CLEMSON — Clemson’s season came to a screeching halt Sunday.

The top-seeded Tigers made seven errors in the field and third-seeded Kentucky scored in five of the first six innings, en route to a dominating 16-4 win over Clemson in an elimination game in the Clemson Regional on Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The loss ends the Tigers’ season.

Since 2011, Clemson has hosted a regional seven times, losing six of those. The Tigers have dropped home regionals twice in Erik Bakich’s first three seasons.

However, this was not Clemson’s worst regional loss. In 2011, the Tigers lost 14-1 at home to UConn in regional play, while in 2018, Vanderbilt beat the Tigers 19-6 at Doug Kingsmore.

Jarren Purify led the way for Clemson at the plate, going 4-of-4 with a run scored, while nobody else had more than one hit.

Clemson got on the board first, pushing across a couple of runs in the top of the first. Jarren Purify walked with one out, followed by a single by Dominic Listi and another walk by Andrew Ciufo, loading the bases. Purify came home on a wild pitch, and then Listi would score on a fielder’s choice from Collin Priest, giving the Tigers a quick 2-0 lead.

The Wildcats plated two of their own in the bottom half of the frame. After Bell retired the first two hitters, he hit the next two. Carson Hansen singled into left, and Listi’s throw home went off the runner, allowing two runs to score, tying the game at 2-2.

Kentucky would take the lead in the bottom of the third with the benefit of two Clemson errors and a wild pitch from Bell. With one out, Cole Hage hit a ground ball into the hole at shortstop. Andrew Ciufo’s throw got away from Jack Crighton, allowing Hage to take second. Then Bell attempted to pick Hage off at second, with the ball ending up in the outfield, allowing him to take third. A Bell wild pitch would then allow him to score, putting Kentucky up 3-2.

With runners on first and second, and still only one out in the third, James McCoy singled into center, plating another run and ending Bell’s day. Nathan Dvorsky came in and walked the first batter he faced on five pitches. On ball four, a passed ball allowed the runner at third to score. Ryna Schwartz then laced a two-run single into left, giving the Wildcats a comfortable 7-2 lead and chasing Dvorsky from the game, after facing just two batters.

Crighton then led off the fifth with a single to right. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on another, and then came home on a third, making it 7-3.

Kentucky kept the pressure on in the bottom half of the inning, getting three straight hits off of Jacob McGovern to lead off the frame. Two of those were back-to-back RBI doubles by Luke Lawrence and Hage, putting Kentucky up 9-3 and ending McGovern’s day.

Justin LeGuernic then relieved McGovern, quickly allowing a single and a sac fly, making it 10-3. Two more base hits loaded the bases. BJ Bailey then came on in relief and allowed a two-run single and a run on a sacrifice fly that was dropped by Listi, extending the Kentucky lead to 13-3.

The Wildcats added another run in the fifth, making it 14-3.

In the sixth, Kentucky added two more unearned runs off two Clemson errors, pushing the lead to 16-3.

Cannarella singled in the seventh and eventually came around to score on a fielder’s choice, making it 16-4.

Uncharacteristic Defensive Miscues

Clemson came into this contest with a .976 fielding percentage, but made seven errors in the loss, leading to five unearned runs. The Tigers’ fielding percentage was .833 on Sunday.

Kentucky Was Clutch, Clemson Was Not

The Wildcats excelled with runners on base. Kentucky hitters were 10-of-18 with runners on and 8-of-14 with runners in scoring position. In what has been a common theme, the Tigers were just 3-of-23 with runners on base and 0-fer with runners in scoring position. Clemson hitters were also just 1-for-11 with two outs.

Cannarella Hit Streak

The star centerfielder’s single in the seventh extended his hitting streak to 22 games. With Cannarella draft eligible, this was likely his last game in a Clemson jersey and he finished the game 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

Listi Sets ACC Record

In the seventh inning, Listi was hit by a pitch for the 30th time this season, setting a new ACC record.