By Will Vandervort.

DURHAM, N.C. — From the first defensive play of the game it was obvious it was not going to be Clemson’s day at Goodmon Field in Durham, N.C.

North Carolina lead-off hitter Brian Miller popped up to the mound where second baseman Tyler Krieger, pitcher Jake Long and third baseman Weston Wilson converged on the ball. But something went wrong and Wilson lost the ball in the sun and dropped it. Though the Tigers got out of the inning with no damage done it was sign of things to come.

The Clemson defense had four errors and pitching walked eight batters and it all enabled North Carolina to knock off the Tigers’ 6-3 in both teams final game of pool play in the ACC Tournament on Friday. Now Clemson and UNC have to wait out the next two days to see what the NCAA selection committee decided to do.

“I think we can play with anybody in this country,” Krieger said. “It is kind of out of our hands at this point what happens. We will be watching on Monday. But I believe in what we have as a team and as a program and I look forward to the opportunity.”

Experts like D1Baseball.com’s Aaron Fitt feel Clemson’s 16-13 record in the ACC is good enough to get the Tigers in as an at-large team as well as their 8-4 record against top 25 teams and their 7-4 record against teams in the top 10.

Though the Tigers (32-27) lost to UNC on Friday in the ACC Tournament, Fitt feels the committee will not select the Tar Heels over the Tigers, if it comes down to it, because of Clemson’s conference record and the Tar Heels’ 13-16 ACC record.

“We will watch Monday. But I trust everything we have, coaches, players and teammates have played hard,”catcher Chris Okey said “It’s out of our control. We’re going to wait and find out on Monday.”

The Tar Heels took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Skye Bolt took a 3-2 fastball from Clemson’s Jake Long to right field. It was home run that should never had happened. Long struck out Elijah Sutherland and got Brian Miller to ground to second to start the third inning and he appeared to get out of the inning easily when left fielder Adam Pate hit a grounder to shortstop.

But Clemson’s Eli White was off with his throw and pulled Andrew Cox off the bag at first base. Tyler Ramirez then ran out an infield hit to second. Long got two strikes on Bolt and then got him to hit a long foul ball down the right field line. Right fielder Steven Duggar tried to camp under it, while battling the sun, but he could not make the catch as the ball fell out of his glove as his extended arm hit the wall in foul territory.

“We gave them a couple of opportunities, more than what the three outs would normally call for in the third inning,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said.

On the very next pitch, Bolt took the 3-2 offering over the right field wall to give the Tar Heels a 3-0 lead.

“He got into a tough count with Skye Bolt and he did exactly what a good player should do with a 3-2 fastball that was in the wrong spot,” Leggett said.

Clemson tried to answer in the top of the fourth inning when they finally got to J.B. Bukauskas with back-to-back hits from Tyler Krieger and Reed Rohlman, but Okey flied out to left field to end the threat.

Bukauskas gave up two runs on five hits and had seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work.

“Their kid did a pretty good job,” Leggett said. “Their freshman pitcher is a good pitcher. The last time we saw him he really didn’t have a good breaking ball, but today he had a much better slider so he has developed a lot over the course of a season.”

The Tar Heels (34-24) extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Pate singled in a run with a two-out hit to left center and then Bolt walked in a run with the bases loaded.

Clemson crawled back in the game with two runs in the top of the sixth inning as Krieger singled to right field to score White with two outs and a few batters later scored a few batters later on a wild pitch.

But the Tigers gave one back in the bottom of the sixth inning when White dropped a pop up to the third base side, allowing another UNC run to come home.

Clemson got runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, but Duggar struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Tigers did pick up a run in the top of the eighth inning when Wilson singled to left field to score Rohlman with two outs.