Anderson Baseball has yet another D1 commit as of Monday night, when Karsten Fidler announced that he will be playing baseball for Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA). The second baseman is a three-year varsity player who made 2nd team all-district as a sophomore and 1st team all-district as a junior.
Fidler explained that he chose SFA because it’s in a college town where “sports bring the community together”. He noticed that at a lot of other universities, baseball was not the “first priority for the fans”, but SFA could not be more different, where people come together to support the baseball program first and foremost. Located in Nacogdoches, Texas, the school competes in the Western Athletic Conference against teams such as UTRGV, Utah Tech, and Abilene Christian.
The road to commitment was much harder for Fidler because he is “undersized”, which caused him to get overlooked by many universities. Despite this challenge, Karsten put his head down and trained harder than ever because he “did not want to give up on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”. All of that hard work paid off, and Fidler expressed how much of a relief it is to be committed because he now knows what his college future will look like and doesn’t have to stress about applications.
Even with all the work he put in, this commitment would not have been possible without the Anderson baseball program and Fidler’s dad. The Trojan Baseball program has taught him to “deal with adversity, be a leader, and create a brother hood”, which are all lessons that can be carried into his college career and beyond. He also named Coach Matthews and Coach Salazar for always supporting the players and building them up, which Fidler noted is “the first step into a great program like the one [Anderson] [has]”. Karsten’s dad has also been a significant influence, taking him to every tournament, sending out emails, and being a constant pillar of support for his son as he worked toward his goal of becoming a D1 athlete.
Coach Matthews has worked with Fidler over the last three years and described the commit as a “steady presence” in the lineup. He noted that Karsten is hard-working both in and outside of school, which “has made him one of the top 2023 players in [the] area”.
With all of the time, dedication, and hard work that Karsten Fidler has put in, there is no doubt that his college baseball career will be just as exciting, if not more so, than his high school one.
