Thursday Recap | Projected Field of 64 | Video Vault
North Florida 5, Kennesaw State 4
After watching his teammate and rotation-mate Jordan Hillyer leave last night's contest as the hard luck loser, Kennesaw State's Travis Bergen aimed to put an end to North Florida's 13-game winning streak on Friday afternoon. Despite pitching well, the junior lefthander left with a no-decision, as the Ospreys scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth, courtesy of a two-run single from Trent Higgenbothem, for a 5-4 victory.
Bergen, like Hillyer, pitched well enough (8 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts) to earn a victory on most nights, but was just unfortunate to run into a team that seems to be clicking on all cylinders right now. He has garnered some early round buzz thanks to a stellar junior campaign (6-3, 2.87 ERA) and his performance on Friday in front of about 15-20 scouts should help to solidify him as a legitimate top five round selection.
Starting from the third base side of the rubber with the increasingly-popular cockeyed and closed front side, Bergen takes a sizable step to the side in the early stages of his windup and gathers significant momentum from a high leg raise before uncoiling towards the plate. Again, in similar fashion to his fellow rotation-mate, righthander Jordan Hillyer, Bergen throws slightly crossfire and releases from a three-quarters to low three-quarters arm slot.
He certainly fits the bill as the generic funky lefty, but unlike the archetypal crafty southpaw, Bergen came out extremely fastball heavy. In fact, Bergen threw only fastballs for the entire first trip through the UNF lineup, finally flashing a changeup to leadoff man Kyle Brooks in the bottom of the third inning.
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