Cody Hawken of Union is Gatorade state player of the year for baseball

Union’s Cody Hawken has been selected as the Gatorade Washington Baseball Player of the Year, Gatorade announced Thursday.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Hawken as Washington’s best high school baseball player. Hawken now becomes an nominee for Gatorade’s national baseball player of the year, which will be announced next month.

At the time of his selection, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior outfielder had led the Titans to a 14-3 record and the Class 4A state tournament. Hawken batted .465 with seven home runs and 30 RBI through 17 games. The 4A Greater St. Helens League Player of the Year, he produced a .582 on-base percentage and a .986 slugging percentage with 18 of his 33 hits going for extra bases entering the regional round of the postseason.

Hawken has maintained a 3.67 GPA in the classroom. An avid outdoorsman, he has helped manage his family-run fishing supplies store and has volunteered locally as a youth baseball coach.

“Cody Hawken has been a great player for our program he has improved an aspect of his game each year,” Union coach Ben McGrew said. “As he continues to learn the game, his potential is limitless as a baseball player.”

Hawken has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Portland this fall.

Hawken becomes the first Union baseball player to win Gatorade’s state honor and the first Clark County baseball player to be honored since Greg Peavey of Hudson’s Bay in 2007. Other local winners of the Washington player of the year honor include Chris Gissell of Hudson’s Bay (1996) and Scott Haij (1994) and Stanley Spencer (1987) of Columbia River. Gatorade started naming state players of the year in 1986.