BOX SCORE | ARCHIVED AUDIO

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Facing off against the No. 2 team in the nation in front of a standing-room only crowd on Friday night (and into Saturday morning), the Morehead State baseball team gave host Clemson all it wanted to handle before ultimately falling 4-3 in 10 innings at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in the NCAA Clemson Regional.

The game, which was delayed two hours and 45 minutes at the start, finished well after midnight when the Tigers got a one-out, walk-off single in the 10th. Morehead State led 3-1 before the hosts tied it 3-3 in the sixth frame.

"I am proud of how we competed in a tough environment," said head coach Mike McGuire. "It ended up being a game of inches. We hit the ball hard pretty much all night and didn't get much to show for it, and Clemson did as well. A couple of inches here or there, and it's a different game."

One of the the plays McGuire is referring to came in the sixth. With the Eagles leading 3-2, Kyle Wilkie rocketed a single up the middle that MSU shortstop Reid Leonard was able to almost catch but just escaped his glove. The tying run scored crossed the plate, but second baseman Braxton Morris made a heads-up play and threw out the would-be go-ahead runner trying to score coming around third base.

Morris later nearly dropped in what may have been a go-ahead single to short right field but was caught on the run for the third out in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, Drew Wharton led off with nearly the same batted ball, but his did drop in between the Eagle fielders in short right-field. Patrick Cromwell laid down a sac bunt, and then scored the game winner when Jordan Green punched a single through the left side off Eagle reliever JC Hatcher.

Morehead State starter Dalton Stambaugh, fresh off the win in the OVC Championship game last Sunday against Tennessee Tech, tossed the first 5.1 innings and only surrendered three runs while sitting down seven via strikeouts. Three times, the Tigers had at least two runners on base, and Stambaugh worked out of it each time.

Freshman lefty reliever Cory Conway (8-4) then tossed the next 3.1 innings and gave up just three hits while whiffing four while being saddled with the tough-luck loss.

The Eagles scored first in the second innings as senior left-fielder Tyler Niemann lifted an RBI double down the left-field line to score junior first baseman Trevor Snyder. On the play, senior third baseman Eli Boggess also scored when Clemson left-fielder Sam Hall booted the bounding ball near the wall.

Junior center-field Connor Pauly added an RBI ground out to make it 3-1 in the top of the sixth.

The Eagles finished with six hits as junior DH Niko Hulsizer connected on a triple and a single.

Morehead State will now face St. John's in the consolation bracket at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Eagles will be the designated home team and must win to continue their 2018 season.