CLEMSON — Getting to Omaha and earning the right to play in the College World Series is hard. However, you can’t commit seven errors in an elimination game and expect to get there.

That is what No. 11 overall seed Clemson did Sunday in an elimination game in the Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers, the regional’s top seed, committed seven errors in helping No. 3 Kentucky beat them, 16-4.

“I think sometimes you have to chalk it up to being a little bit of an anomaly,” Clemson outfielder Dominic Listi said. “I truly don’t think anything Kentucky did pushed us into feeling (pressured). I don’t believe that is what occurred.

“I just think we had an anomaly, and it happened to be, arguably, the worst part of the season to do that.”

The seven errors, plus the fact Clemson pitching allowed 13 hits, hit three batters and walked four, allowed the Wildcats (31-25) the ability to keep piling on. At one point, while giving up 11 combined runs in the third and fourth innings, the Tigers seemed helpless.

“We have not defended that poorly all year, so I do not know what led to it,” Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said. “It could have been something Kentucky was doing. We were certainly aware of their game plan, how they play and the way they play. But we have faced other teams in our league that try to run an action-offense that puts a lot of pressure on you, as well.

“We have been that offense at times ourselves, so it was not anything we have not seen.”

What happened to the Tigers on Sunday?

“We just did not take care of the baseball,” Bakich said.

“It certainly looked like we were not sharp out there today, and ultimately, as the coach, that is on me,” he continued.

And that makes it extra hard to win a regional, much less advance all the way to Omaha.

“It is hard to get to Omaha. People do not realize how hard it is to just go,” Bakich said. “You have to work your (butt) off every day. Omaha is a lifestyle, as much as it is a destination. You cannot leave anything short.

“You hope that you work so hard that you get the opportunity to earn your way there and get hot when it means the most and somehow find your way there.”

Clemson has not found its way to Omaha since 2010. Sunday’s debacle cemented the sixth time in its last seven home regionals Clemson failed to advance.

“The way this regional went, it certainly stings,” Bakich said. “I am sure we will dissect it from every angle and make sure we are doing everything in our power not to feel like this. We hear it. We know it. We see it. Clemson baseball has not been to Omaha since 2010.

“We got it! We know! We are very aware, and we are going to do everything in our power to get there.”

It is just not going to happen this year.

“Clemson baseball will be back in Omaha. That is going to happen, but in the same breath, you have to earn it every day,” Bakich said. “You have to earn it in August, September and October and every single day because how you get there, there are so many different ways to get there, but it is going to happen with this team.

“We are going to do what we have to do. We are not leaving anything on the table.”