By R.L. Bynum

Carolina battled a red-hot Clemson team well on Friday night, but lost a heartbreaker in the ninth inning.

After the Tar Heels tied it in the top of the ninth, Blake Wright ended the game with an RBI single to right with two outs in the bottom of the inning to give No. 7 Clemson a 5–4 victory at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for the series win and the Tigers’ 11th consecutive victory.

In the bizarre top of the ninth, Clemson fielders lost pop-ups from Alberto Osuna, Colby Wilkerson and Jackson Van De Brake in the lights. Van De Brake’s hit went for an RBI double that scored Colby Wilkeson on a close play at the plate.

Carolina (33–21, 14–13 ACC), which has lost three in a row, jumped to a 3–0 lead in the second inning on Patrick Alvarez’s three-run homer in his first start since fracturing his left hamate bone on April 13. It would have been a grand slam, but Hunter Stokely got picked off first base after singling.

For the second consecutive night, Carolina’s starting pitcher only lasted 3⅔ innings. Jake Knapp, coming off an impressive win over N.C. State, gave up five hits, four runs and three walks with three strikeouts.

Knapp threw 11 consecutive balls as Clemson (38–17, 19–10) tied it with three runs in the third inning. Knapp hit a batter with a pitch with the bases loaded to force in one run before Billy Amick hit a two-run single. Clemson took a 4–3 lead on Cam Cannarella’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

Ben Peterson relieved Knapp and was outstanding, giving up three hits and two walks while striking out three in four shutout innings. Dalton Pence retired the only batter he faced, and Matt Poston (3–3) gave up the run in the ninth inning.

NOTES —In Saturday’s 1 p.m. finale (ACC Network), Clemson will start junior left-hander Caden Grice (6–1, 3.60 ERA) and Carolina hasn’t named a starter. … Center fielder Vance Honeycutt was again out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. … Casey Cook walked twice to extend his on-base streak to 42 games. … Clemson trimmed its deficit in the all-time series with UNC to 103–97–1 and 51–33–1 in games at Clemson. … The Tar Heels fell to 5–16 against teams currently ranked in the D1 Baseball Top 25.

No. 7 Clemson 5, UNC 4

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ACC standings

Coastal Division

	ACC	GB	Overall	Streak
No. 21 Virginia	19–11	—	44–11	W9
No. 11 Miami	18–12	1	37–18	W2
No. 16 Duke	16–13	2½	35–19	L2
North Carolina	14–14	4	33–21	L4
Virginia Tech	12–17	6½	30–21	W1
Georgia Tech	12–18	7	30–24	L4
Pittsburgh	10–18	8	23–30	L3

Atlantic Division

	ACC	GB	Overall	Streak
No. 1 Wake Forest	22–7	—	45–9	L1
No. 7 Clemson	20–10	2½	39–17	W12
No. 22 Boston College	16–14	6½	34–17	W2
Notre Dame	15–15	7½	30–22	L3
N.C. State	13–16	9	34–18	W3
Louisville	10–20	12½	31–24	L2
Florida State	9–21	13½	23–31	W2

Thursday’s results
No. 7 Clemson 14, UNC 7
N.C. State 7, Pittsburgh 2
No. 1 Wake Forest 6, Virginia Tech 3
No. 21 Virginia 12, Georgia Tech 5
Notre Dame 5, Boston College 1
No. 16 Duke 5, No. 11 Miami 3
Louisville 7, Florida State 4
Friday’s results
No. 7 Clemson 5, UNC 4
Boston College 7, Notre Dame 2
Boston College 8, Notre Dame 4
N.C. State 17, Pittsburgh 8
No. 1 Wake Forest 7, Virginia Tech 5
No. 21 Virginia 10, Georgia Tech 6
Florida State 7, Louisville 4
No. 11 Miami 10, No. 16 Duke 8, 11 innings
Saturday’s games
No. 21 Virginia 8, Georgia Tech 7
No. 7 Clemson 3, UNC 1
N.C. State 8, Pittsburgh 2
Florida State 6, Louisville 2
Virginia Tech 14, No. 1 Wake Forest 6
No. 11 Miami 10, No. 16 Duke 1
END REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
May 23–28

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Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent (current rank)	Location	Record
	Feb.
17	Friday	10–8 L	Seton Hall	Home	0–1
18	Saturday	11–2 W	Seton Hall	Home	1–1
19	Sunday	4–2 W	Seton Hall	Home	2–1
21	Tuesday	14–2 W	Radford	Home	3–1
22	Wed.	10–0 W	Longwood	Home	4–1
24	Friday	6–5 L	No. 15 East Carolina	Greenville	4–2
26	Sunday	6–5 L	No. 15 East Carolina	Home	4–3
28	Tuesday	10–4 W	VCU	Home	5–3
	March
1	Wed.	14–10 W	VCU	Home	6–3
3	Friday	3–2 W 11 innings	Stony Brook	Home	7–3
4	Saturday	7–5 W	Stony Brook	Home	8–3
5	Sunday	15–4 W	Stony Brook	Home	9–3
7	Tuesday	8–4 W, 5 innings	Western Carolina	Home	10–3
8	Wed.	15–5 W	Penn State	Home	11–3
10	Friday	7–3 L	No. 11 Virginia	Home	11–4, 0–1 ACC
11	Saturday	8–4 L	No. 11 Virginia	Home	11–5, 0–2 ACC
11	Saturday	6–0 W	No. 11 Virginia	Home	12–5, 1–2 ACC
14	Tuesday	16–3 W	Charlotte	Charlotte	13–5
15	Wed.	16–2 W	High Point	Home	14–5
17, 18	Friday, Saturday	17–7 W	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 2–2 ACC
21	Tuesday	6–4 W	N.C. A&T	Home	16–5
23	Thursday	6–3 W	Duke	Home	17–5, 3–2 ACC
24	Friday	8–5 L	Duke	Home	17–6, 3–3 ACC
25	Saturday	5–3 W	Duke	Home	18–6, 4–3 ACC
28	Tuesday	12–7 L	No. 9 Coastal Carolina	Home	18–7
31	Friday	10–8 W	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	19–7, 5–3 ACC
	April
2	Sunday	5–2 W	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	20–7, 6–3 ACC
2	Sunday	9–1 L	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind	20–8, 6–4 ACC
4	Tuesday	5–0 L	South Carolina	Charlotte	20–9
6	Thursday	8–1 W	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	21–9, 7–4 ACC
7	Friday	10–6 W	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	22–9, 8–4 ACC
7	Friday	8–4 L	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	22–10, 8–5 ACC
11	Tuesday	10–6 W	Queens	Home	23–10
13	Thursday	5–4 L	No. 8 Miami	Home	23–11, 8–6 ACC
14/15	Friday, Saturday	9–8 W, 11 inn.	No. 8 Miami	Home	24–11, 9–6 ACC
15	Saturday	4–3 L	No. 8 Miami	Home	24–12, 9–7 ACC
18	Tuesday	5–3 W	Charlotte	Home	25–12
21	Friday	9–8 L, 10 inn.	Boston College	Home	25–13, 9–8 ACC
22	Saturday	9–4 L	Boston College	Home	25–14, 9–9 ACC
23	Sunday	6–2 L	Boston College	Home	25–15, 9–10 ACC
25	Tuesday	18–2 W	UNCW	Home	26–15
28	Friday	7–0 L	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	26–16, 9–11 ACC
29	Saturday	12–8 W	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	27–16, 10–11 ACC
29	Saturday	13–7 W	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	28–16, 11–11 ACC
	May
2	Tuesday	6–5 L	No. 11 Campbell	Home	28–17
3	Wed.	2–1 W	No. 15 East Carolina	Greenville	29–17
9	Tuesday	5–4 W	Gardner-Webb	Home	30–17
11	Thursday	9–8 W	N.C. State	Home	31–17, 12–11 ACC
12	Friday	9–3 W	N.C. State	Home	32–17, 13–11 ACC
13	Saturday	12–2 W	N.C. State	Home	33–17, 14–11 ACC
16	Tuesday	8–6 L	No. 9 Coastal Carolina	Conway, S.C.	33–18
18	Thursday	14–7 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–19, 14–12 ACC
19	Friday	5–4 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–20, 14–13 ACC
20	Saturday	3–1 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–21, 14–14 ACC
			ACC tournament
23	Tuesday	11–5 W	Georgia Tech	Durham	34–21
25	Thursday	10–2 W	No. 11 Virginia	Durham	35–21
27	Saturday	10–4 L	Semifinal vs. No. 3 Clemson	Durham	35–22
	June		NCAA tournament
			Terre Haute Regional
2	Friday	5–4 L	Iowa	Terre Haute, Ind.	35–23
3	Saturday	5–0 W	Wright State	Terre Haute, Ind.	36–23
4	Sunday	6–5 L, 13 innings	Iowa	Terre Haute, Ind.	36–24

Photo via @ClemsonBaseball