CHICAGO (May 23, 2019) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, today announced Nate Savino of Potomac Falls High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Virginia Baseball Player of the Year. Savino is the first Gatorade Virginia Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Potomac Falls High School.

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 Savino as Virginia’s best high school baseball player.

Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Savino joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo High School, Mich.), Jon Lester (2001-02, Bellarmine Preparatory School, Wash.), David Price (2003-04, Blackman High School, Tenn.), Clayton Kershaw (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas), Rick Porcello (2006-2007, Seaton Hall Preparatory School, N.J.) and Kris Bryant (2009-10, Bonanza High School, Nev.).

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior, left-handed pitcher and outfielder had led the Panthers to a 9-12 record and a berth in the Potomac District Tournament semifinals at the time of his selection. Through 21 games, Savino owned a 3-2 record with a 0.60 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched. He had allowed just 17 hits and issued nine walks. A First Team Class 5 All-State selection as a sophomore and the nation’s No. 23-ranked prospect in the Class of 2020, he was batting .375 with nine extra-base hits, 17 runs scored and a .563 slugging percentage.

Savino has volunteered locally as part of multiple fundraising campaigns to benefit cancer research, and he has donated his time as a youth baseball coach in addition to serving as an usher at his church.

“Nate Savino is an outstanding player and competitor,” said Cole Shain, head coach of Tuscarora High. “He has overpowering stuff on the mound. He has the ability to limit the damage when batters reach base. When Savino is on the mound, Potomac Falls can beat anyone.”

Savino has maintained a 3.41 GPA in the classroom. He has made a verbal commitment to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Virginia beginning in the fall of 2020.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Savino joins recent Gatorade Virginia Baseball Players of the Year Cade Hungate (2017-18, Abingdon High School), Andrew Abbott (2016-17, Halifax County High School), Khalil Lee (2015-16, Flint Hill School), Nic Enright (2014-15, The Steward School), and J.B. Bukauskas (2013-14, Stone Bridge High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Savino also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.

*** Photos Courtesy of Michelle Butler Sports Images (@mom2mno) and Abby Detorie (@AbbyDetorie)