On Sept 13th, junior Max Anderson’s childhood dream became a reality. After three years of getting recruited by multiple division one schools, Anderson made the decision of a lifetime. He committed to play baseball at the University of Texas A&M.

Growing up, Anderson has always been a phenomenal athlete in every sport he chose to play. He played a wide variety of sports growing up including ice hockey and basketball, but he was always had a unique talent when it came to baseball. At the age of seven while other kids struggled to make contact with the ball, Anderson had three home runs that year.

As he got older he played with a more competitive travel team in order to get prepared for high school baseball. His select travel team, the Omaha Cardinals,  won the State Tournament and placed 19th in the country by the end of the year. Anderson credits a lot of his development and knowledge to his coach Brian Southworth.

“Brian has helped me reach so many of my goals thanks to all of the time and effort he has put into me,” Anderson said. “He really helped me during the recruiting process narrow down the schools that would fit me best.”

Southworth coached Anderson from ages 11 to 14 and still coaches his fall ball team to this day, where Anderson got exposure and had the time to go to camps and talk to coaches.

When Anderson attended the Texas A&M camp, he was very impressed with the coaches.

“A&M felt like a family to me,” Anderson said. “Most of the coaches are from Nebraska so that was a helpful deciding factor. The only hard part for me was knowing how far away the school is from my family.”

Texas A&M is a very competitive school in baseball as they have made the super regionals six  out of the last 11 years along with two College World Series appearances in those 11 years. Although making it to the CWS is a dream for all college baseball players, it has always been special to Anderson so he can come back to his hometown of Omaha to play in front of his friends and family.

Junior Tristan Gomes has been a teammate of Anderson since they were in elementary school. They have a special bond after playing together for most of their competitive baseball careers.

“Max is a great athlete and is also such a great teammate and friend,” Gomes said. “He pushes me to be better by having such a strong work ethic. It is very clear that he keeps a mentality to just focus on having fun and competing which is contagious to the team. I’m just super proud of him and I know he made a good decision on his commitment.”

Friends and family have had nothing but support for Anderson throughout his baseball career. It is clear that he will succeed at Texas A&M and hopefully will come back to his hometown of Omaha in the College World Series within those four years.

“We are all very proud and excited for him,” Max’s brother Hank Anderson said. “It is far away, but I think Texas A&M fits him perfectly.”

All of Anderson’s dedication and hard work has paid off now that he gets to play at one of his dream schools. It will be a very exciting journey for Anderson as he continues his academic and baseball career at the school of Texas A&M.