Cody Bowker of Thornton Academy in Saco has been named the 2021-22 Gatorade Maine Baseball Player of the Year.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior outfielder and right-handed pitcher is the first Gatorade Maine Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Thornton Academy.
He now is a finalist for the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award to be announced later this month.
Bowker batted .490 with four home runs and 18 RBI through TA’s 16-game regular season, leading the 15-1 Golden Trojans to the No. 1 seed for the Class A South tournament. The tournament begins for Thornton on Tuesday with a Round of 16 matchup at home against No. 16 Biddeford.
Bowker also has drawn 17 walks and scored 29 runs this spring
The state’s No. 3 prospect in the Class of 2022 as ranked by Perfect Game, he has compiled a 6-0 pitching record with a 0.48 earned run average and 74 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched.
Bowker has volunteered locally on behalf of multiple community service initiatives in association with the National Honor Society and has donated his time as a youth baseball coach.
He has maintained a 4.03 grade-point average academically and has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at Georgetown University this fall.
“Cody Bowker is the definition of a team leader,” Thornton Academy head coach Jason Lariviere said. “He leads by example both on the field and in the classroom. He loves being the guy we lean on in tough games. He always puts the additional work in and truly loves the game of baseball.”
Bowker joins Brady Afthim (2020-21, Windham), Hunter Owen (2019-20 and 2018-19, South Portland), and Brendan Tinsman (2017-18, Cape Elizabeth), among the state’s list of most recent Gatorade Maine award winners.
Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Bowker has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of his choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports.
Bowker is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization he chose is deserving of one of 12 $10,000 spotlight grants that will be announced throughout the year.