Athlete of the Week: Luke Genova shines for Newport Harbor

Luke Genova walked off the Newport Harbor High mound last week as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. He tried to leave five pitches earlier, but the inside fastball that the umpire called a strike for most of the game didn’t go in Genova’s favor.

Instead of getting a strikeout to end things against Los Alamitos, the batter walked to first base. The batter was only the fourth to reach base against Genova.

Genova took a deep breath and returned to the hill. He zeroed in on completing his first one-hitter of his career. He recorded it, getting the hitter to fly out to center field to lead the Sailors to a 2-0 win in Sunset League play.

The effort turned in by the right-hander was impressive. The senior struck out seven, six swinging, walked one and hit one. The lone hit was a line drive single to left field in the third inning.

Seventy-one pitches are how many Genova threw, 52 went for strikes. To Genova, his second shutout in five starts was just another game.

“It wasn’t like I threw a perfect game or anything like that,” Genova said. “It was just one-hitter. It was still a solid performance.”

Teammates thought more of Genova’s outing. They showed him how much they appreciated it by hugging him after the Sailors pushed their winning streak to three games.

“I don’t think there’s been a pitcher in our league who has thrown a one-hitter against another league opponent,” Newport Harbor Coach Evan Chalmers said.

Because of Genova, the Sailors went into this week a game within second place, shared by Edison and Huntington Beach. The top three teams in league earn automatic berths into the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

The last time Chalmers witnessed a performance like Genova’s was two years ago, when he had two senior pitchers named Shaun Vetrovec and Connor Seabold. Those two pitchers, bound for UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton, respectively, were the reasons why Newport Harbor qualified for the postseason as a wild-card team that year.

Chalmers said Genova has been dealing just as well for the Sailors, keeping them in the hunt to return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus.

“It’s like I told the kids that we managed to eke into the playoffs as the fourth-place team with six wins in what I think is one of the best teams that this school has ever seen,” Chalmers said. “Luke and his twin brother [Jake] were sophomores on that team, very much contributors, but sometimes we see some of those guys [Seabold and Vetrovec] in the past as being sort of bigger than life. I know that some of the newer kids on the club do, and the reality is we’re one win away from being right where they were [in 2014]. That’s a pretty big deal. The big goal is to get to the playoffs.”

Those playoff hopes were dashed this week, as the Sailors lost twice to first-place Marina to drop to 5-8 in league. With two to play in league next week, fourth-place Newport Harbor is three games back of second-place Edison and two games back of third-place Huntington Beach, which holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Sailors, having taken two of three games.

The Sailors’ lone win against Huntington Beach came during their valiant run in league. Before this week, they had won four of six, including an 8-6 upset at Huntington Beach on April 22.

Genova earned the victory against the Oilers, going the distance. The win was the Sailors’ first against Huntington Beach in three years.

For the season, Genova has thrown four complete games, all wins. He entered Friday’s game at Marina with a 5-3 record and a 3.58 earned-run average.

Next week’s games with Edison aren’t the final ones for Genova representing the Sailors. He will play in the Orange County All-Star Game at La Palma Park’s Dee Fee Field in Anaheim on June 7.

Genova will also compete on the next level. Genova is heading to Santa Clara University, where he plans to play third base and be a reliever.

Who Genova is going to miss the most is his brother. The two are best friends.

“He’s been my roommate for 18 years,” Jake said.

While the Genovas are fraternal twins, they look a lot alike. They are both 6-foot-2.

The only differences are how much they weigh, Luke is 215 pounds and Jake is 185, and their facial hair, Luke sports a mustache these days and Jake is clean-shaven.

“Of course I can [grow a mustache],” Jake said, before adding, “better than his.”

“Take it easy,” Luke responded.

The brothers rarely argue on the field. With the Sailors, Luke plays first base when he’s not pitching, and Jake is the third baseman. On their travel ball team, Jake catches Luke when Luke’s not playing third.

“That’s pretty special. We don’t miss a beat,” Luke said of when his brother catches him. “Our club coach let’s us call pitches. We never find ourselves arguing over what pitches to throw. I rarely shake him off.

“I’m going to miss him. It’s just going to be weird because so many times throughout the day I just scream his name across the house just to ask him something. I’m going to find myself probably doing that in college and he’s not going to be there.”

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Luke Genova

Born: June 6, 1998

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 215 pounds

Sport: Baseball

Year: Senior

Coach: Evan Chalmers

Favorite food: Pizza

Favorite movie: “Mad Max”

Favorite athletic moment: “Getting to the playoffs my sophomore year.”

Week in review: Genova threw a one-hitter and struck out seven in the host Sailors’ 2-0 win against Los Alamitos in a Sunset League game. He also went one for one with four walks, one run batted in and two runs in a 14-3 win at Los Alamitos.