By JOE McFARLAND

“Remember why.”

You will find those two words scrawled into the inside of Carson Friesen’s hat as he takes to the field for the Edmonton Collegiate Hawks.

More noticeably, the outfielder will take a moment an at-bat to etch an “E” into the dirt beside the batter’s box.

They are a couple of ways that Friesen honours one of his boyhood friends, Ethan Symtaniuk, after losing him to suicide in 2019.

The pair were in grade nine in Saskatoon when it happened. Seven years later, his old pal is always on his mind.

“He was probably one of the most friendly guys I’ve ever known in my lifetime,” Friesen told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.

“At the end of the day, he’s one of the main reasons why I will continue to play for as long as I can.”

The college senior is doing everything in his power to make a lasting impression for his old friend, including what might have been a record-setting game and a fantastic start towards claiming the Hawks’ first-ever Canadian College Baseball Conference World Series.

DREAMING FOR TWO

Baseball has never really been a sport for Friesen: it’s been a way of life.

Introduced the game at a young age by his father, he says he was lucky enough to play a bunch of other sports in Saskatoon but always gravitated back to the diamond.

When Symtaniuk passed away, Friesen says he was trying to figure out where to focus his attention, and that’s when he made his move.

“Honestly, baseball hits different at the end of the day,” he said. “The relationships you make on the field and off the field, it’s helped make me into who I am in a way, and it’s definitely helped me grow as a person.”

After another year at home, Friesen decided to try taking his game to the next level and moved to Alberta where he played with the Parkland Twins and trained with Taylor Burns at AHP Academy in St. Albert.

At one point, Burns took to Twitter to say the left-handed hitter was a “cheat code” at the plate, winning AHP’s Hitter of the Year Award in 2022.

Carson Friesen is a cheat code https://t.co/yCsh4BPpCR
— Taylor Burns (@tburns34) July 15, 2021

“That was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Friesen said. “It was a family there – I loved going there every day and just being part of the team.”

His performance earned him a commitment to Saddleback Community College, before Friesen ultimately chose to go to Ventura College in California.

FREQUENT FLYER MILES

No route in college baseball is a straight line and Friesen has been living proof of that.

His freshman season at Ventura didn’t go according to plan, as he hit .107 with a run scored and four runs batted in over 17 games in 2022-2023.

He came back home to suit up with the Hawks during the spring of 2024, where he swatted a .192 average and 17 RBI in 23 games before becoming more of a force in the playoffs with a .316 average, his first collegiate homer and five RBI in five games.

Friesen then went back south to suit up with Pearce College, where it was still a struggle with a .186 batting average accompanying another roundtripper and six RBI in 18 games.

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Grateful for all of the travel he’s been able to do in his young career, the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Friesen was ready to come home for his senior season.

“The greatest adversity for me has probably been the mental side of baseball,” he said. “I have the talent, I have the hard work, but it’s a lot of mental work and I feel like it’s something that I can continue to get better at every day.”

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

Everything seemingly clicked for Friesen as soon as the 2026 CCBC season got underway.

Up against the University of Fraser Valley in the first game of the spring, he hit three singles, scored twice and drove in one in an 11-5 victory.

Confidence seemed to breed more confidence, as Friesen hit his first home run of the season two days later to finish out opening weekend.

Then he had a weekend for the ages against the Victoria Golden Tide, going 9-for-18 with a double, two dingers and 15 RBI in a four-game set.

The double, those two homers and 11 of those RBI came in one game as Friesen went 6-for-6 to set some single-game records for the Hawks.

“I’ve had some pretty crazy games before, but nothing even close to that,” he laughed.

Admittedly, Friesen wishes he could explain what happened, but baseball has a funny way of working sometimes.

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“Call me crazy, but I don’t really have an approach as I just see ball and hit ball,” he continued. “When coaches are like, ‘You have a two-strike approach?’ and I just go into the box and just know that I’m going to hit the ball.”

The roll continues as he’s hitting .321 on the season with six doubles, a triple, four homers and 29 RBI in 20 games.

HAWKS TAKING FLIGHT

More important than the personal statistics has been the performance of the Hawks.

They sit in third place in the standings with a 15-9 record, and were particularly impressive in a weekend set against the reigning champion Okanagan College Coyotes, winning three of four and scoring 59 runs.

“We have, in my opinion, the best hitters I’ve played with in a long time,” Friesen said. “I think we have the players and the coaching staff to win it all this year.”

With three weekends to go in the regular season, it’s looking like the Hawks have done enough to earn one of the top six spots in the conference and a ticket to the CCBC championship weekend in Lethbridge.

Since their first appearance in the World Series in 2022, they have yet to make it to the championship game, which is something Friesen is hoping to change this time around.

And then, of course, win it all.

“My gosh, it would mean the absolute world to me,” he said. “Even thinking about it now, it’s just like … I’m just so excited to see what the possibilities are for this team.”

It would be one more way for Friesen to tip his cap to a long-time friend he misses dearly.