Matthew Crownover spent much of Tuesday afternoon on edge. For the first three hours of the Major League Baseball Draft’s second day, he patiently waited to see his name come across the bottom of the screen. Finally, on the next to last pick of the sixth round, he saw it.

“It was kind of a nail biting situation,” the Clemson pitcher said. “A guy like me, it kind of depends on how people see you on the draft board so it was kind a nail biting time all the way down until the time I was picked.”

The Washington Nationals selected Crownover with the 194 overall pick as became the last of four Tigers chosen on day two of the Major League Draft. Earlier fellow pitcher Zack Erwin (112) and second baseman Tyler Krieger (124) were taken in the fourth round by the White Sox and Indians, while just eight picks before Crownover was selected right fielder Steven Duggar (186) was picked by the San Francisco Giants.

“I had talked to them just a little before and they told me they were probably going to pick me. So I watching and I was seeing guys getting picked and guys getting picked then the Nationals were coming up and I was wondering was it going to happen. Then I saw my name scroll across the screen so it was pretty cool,” Crownover said.

“I had a great time during my three years here at Clemson and you could not ask for anything better. But as a kid you always dream about playing Major League Baseball. That was one of my dreams. Right now it is still a dream because this is a start line not a finish line, but I’m a step closer.”

In 2015, Crownover earned first-team All-American honors and was also the ACC Pitcher of the Year. He earned those honors by going 10-3 with a 1.82 ERA. Opponents had a .183 batting average in the 109.0 innings he pitched over 16 starts. His 1.82 ERA was the best mark by a Tiger since 1998 and the best mark by a Tiger starter since 1977, while his 108 strikeouts were the most by a Tiger since 1996.

Soon after being picked former Clemson head coach Jack Leggett, who was fired by athletic director Dan Radakovich last Thursday after 22 years on the job, called him up to congratulate him.

“Coach Leggett called me within five minutes of me being drafted,” Crownover said. “He was watching the draft and he saw all of us get drafted and he called me right after I got off the phone with the scouting director for Washington. We had a real good conversation.

“I miss him not being up there. He is my guy. Whatever Radakovich decides, and I know he will make a good decision, but I hope Coach (Bradley) LeCroy gets a chance at it. He is more Clemson than anybody else they will probably interview for the job. I will be paying attention to it.

“Coach Leggett was in good spirits,” Crownover continued. “He said he had over six hundred emails and text messages since that decision happened. Coach Leggett is pretty good with attention to detail so he is not going to send just a thank you. He will send a paragraph or two to thank you for what you have done for him or he will call you. He said he just got done with it (Monday) night. He seems to be in a good place for it being such a terrible situation, but he has handled it very well, with class. He is just a class act. You can’t say much more than that about him.”