Senior Anders Bergler is a dual-sport athlete, playing both baseball and basketball. Bergler enjoys playing baseball more because of how long he has been playing and how much his family loves the sport.
He is a second baseman in baseball and plays point guard in basketball. Bergler enjoys second base the most because of how comfortable he has gotten with this position, as he has played it his whole life.
Berglers experience playing for La Salle athletics has “been fun all around,” he said. He’s made many connections and life-long friends through playing sports.
“I played with some of them in middle school, a lot of my baseball teammates, but it’s really deepened my connection with all of them,” Bergler said.
One of his most memorable moments playing for the basketball team is when they went to Reno, Nevada in December, 2023.
One of the most challenging parts about playing sports for him has been working hard to get up to the varsity level. “It’s been a grind for both sports but it’s been fun,” Bergler said.
Bergler worked hard his sophomore year during the baseball season to get up to the varsity level and succeeded in doing so while getting the opportunity to play in a playoff game. During that playoff game, Bergler ended up bunting in two runs and those two runs resulted in a win for the team.
Bergler was put into sports growing up and has since stuck with them. “I kind of just stuck with baseball and basketball, fell in love with both of them,” Bergler said. His grandpa was a baseball player and ended up playing in college for Portland State, helping inspire Bergler to play.
Bergler has had a lot of mental growth since playing his freshman year. “Baseball is a very mental game, so learn that side of the game,” he said. He has also learned how to be more mature and how to control his emotions during basketball, especially when dealing with calls from refs that may have been unfair.
This basketball season, Bergler hopes the team makes it all the way to the playoffs, win the first round, and go on to play at Linfield for the state tournament. As for baseball, he hopes to win league.
Bergler plays for the club team Rose City Baseball Club (RCBC). He has played on and off with RCBC for the past couple of years and last summer got the opportunity to play with their 18U team, giving him the opportunity to play with college-age athletes.
Bergler loves both his basketball coach and baseball coach. Basketball Coach Sean Kelly pushes them as a team and is hard when he needs to be. “The passion that he has for the game and for us is unmatched,” Bergler said.
Bergler’s baseball coaches, Nate Fogle and Trey Norton, are also very positive and “they only want good for the program and good for our team,” Bergler said.
The games he is most looking forward to this baseball season is their game against Wilsonville High School and their series playoff games. For basketball, he is excited for any big league games against Wilsonville High School and Putnam High School.
Before games, Bergler is very superstitious, especially in baseball as he will do the same routine every time before getting up to the plate. As for basketball, he does the same warm up routine each game. Bergler’s music taste also follows him up to the plate, with his walk up song last year being “Run this Town” by Rhianna and Jay Z.
He hopes to continue to play baseball at the college level by going to a bigger university.
Bergler’s advice for people who play baseball, and those who want to start, is to understand how much of a mental sport baseball is and how much time you will have to put in to become mentally tough, “so if you’re not willing to give the time then I would say don’t do it,” he said.
Berglers advice for basketball is to keep your body in shape because the sport itself is very physically demanding.
Bergler loves the community at La Salle and how you can always find someone in the hallways to have a conversation with and have it be totally normal. He also likes the athletics at La Salle and how many opportunities they give to the students.
His favorite class by far has been Mr. Linus Oey’s math class, who he had his freshman and junior year. “He’s a really fun, fun teacher [who] brings energy,” he said.
