Following years of hard work, Giovannelli to continue baseball career at powerhouse Point Loma Nazarene

By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

When you’re looking for a player to put into the middle of the lineup, they need to be able to hit. Whether it’s double power or long ball power, this is ideal when getting a player like this. 

After years of hard work, Justin-Siena star corner infielder Noah Giovannelli signed with the NCAA Division 2 Point Loma Nazarene on May 2nd at the Dan Clark Gym to continue playing baseball. 

If there was always one thing that stood out about what Giovannelli added, it was the massive gap-to-gap power he had at the plate. This also reflected in his numbers as he had 21 extra base hits in his time at Justin-Siena. During his three years on varsity, he had a total of 21 extra-base hits. But the majority of those were doubles, where he had 16 of them. The thing that was even more evident was that Giovannelli could hit it to all fields. 

“We always knew Noah was a very good baseball player,” Justin-Siena head coach Jeremy Tayson explained. “He’s a gamer and does a lot of really good things on the field. But in terms of his signing and going on to the next level, it’s really a testament to his patience and his perseverance. He is one of, if not the, hardest working player you know around he’s always in our cages. He’s always in the weight room. His care factor is very high.  So it’s very gratifying to see a young man get rewarded with parts of their dreams being realized.” 

While the power is a nice thing to see, the stat that stands out is the even better numbers that reflect the type of overall hitter he is. During his time at Justin-Siena, Giovannelli hit .331 during his time on varsity to go along with 54 runs scored and 31 RBIs. The season where Giovannelli put it all together was as a junior when he hit an astounding .398 with 18 RBIs and 33 hits in 80 at-bats that season. 

Also, as a junior, he had a very solid .490 OBP, .638 slugging, and a very good 1.129 OPS, which shows how productive he was that season. Part of the reason he was able to put up these great numbers was the fact that he did work in the weight room, which is key when being able to have both power and speed in the middle of a lineup. 

“You’ve seen him grow physically,” Tayson added. “I think he was 150 pounds when he was a freshman. Now he’s one of, if not the biggest dude out here and on any given basis. And two, I think he’s really just tried to make sense of what matters to him, and in doing so, he’s really prioritized living a healthy, faith-filled, honest life for himself and for others.” 

But beyond the numbers, Giovannelli does so many things that don’t show up in the box score. One of those is his ability to play the corner infield with ease. This flexibility made it possible to get him or others in the lineup. On top of this, Giovannelli played good defense no matter where he was penciled in on that day. 

“It just says that he’s a good player, and he’s got a good head on his shoulders, and he trusts himself,” Tayson explained of the versatility Giovannelli offers by playing the corner infield positions. “He trusts preparation, and he knows that wherever he’s at, he’s ready.” 

Giovannelli also got this opportunity through years of hard work. During his senior season, he would lead by example 

Over his three-year time at the varsity level, he had a very good .970 fielding percentage. To put it into perspective, he only made 7 errors in that time. When the ball is hit to him, it is more than likely an out for that pitcher on the mound. 

When Giovannelli gets to Point Loma, he’ll be playing at arguably one of the prettiest fields in the country. The Carroll B. Land Stadium is located where there is a great view of the Pacific Ocean, something that can’t be matched in many places. But beyond that, the overall beauty of the campus caught Giovannelli’s eye.  

It also helps that he’s going to a perennial power in the PacWest Conference. After all, the Sea Lions just completed a very strong 39-18 season where they were 32-12 in conference play. They were eliminated in the regional round of the NCAA Division 2 tournament. 

“That the striking campus is definitely something that catches your eye,” Giovannelli pointed out. “There’s the success of winning. Man, they win a lot of baseball games. They play in the world College World Series a lot, and I know it’s a place that I’m gonna be able to play, get some good playing time, win a lot of baseball games, and hopefully continue to play professional.” 

He will do this while majoring in business. He chose this because it’s a major that leads to plenty of opportunities. 

“Obviously, my dream is to play baseball after college,” Giovannelli explained. “But if that doesn’t work out, I feel like business is a major that can kind of lead you to broad career opportunities.” 

Moving on to play college baseball is a dream come true for Giovannelli after all the years of hard work he’s put in to get to this point. This includes grinding through a tough recruiting process and having to be told no a few times. 

“Absolutely, it’s a dream come true,” Giovannelli said. “Prayed many times for this, worked my butt off these last four years for this, and man, I just couldn’t be happier with where I ended up. This recruiting journey was really long, and it was painful. Got a lot of no’s and stuck through it, didn’t give up on myself, didn’t give up on God’s plan for me, trusted it and blessed to be where I’m where I’m headed.” 

Giovannelli has played for many teams throughout his career. He began at Sonoma Little League, Sonoma Stack, and Napa Valley Baseball Club. 

It was a special day for Giovannelli to be able to share the day on the May 2nd signing ceremony with Spencer Nelson, who will be playing at PacWest rival William Jessup in Rocklin. Nelson and Giovannelli have been teammates on the Napa Valley Baseball Club over the last few years. 

“It’s awesome, man,” Giovannelli said of sharing the moment with Nelson. “Just so happy to be able to share this moment with Spencer. And couldn’t be more happy that we’re gonna be seeing each other every year, and it’s gonna be really fun battling against him. Hopefully, we get some at-bats against each other when he’s on the mound and I’m at the plate.”