OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The USCAA World Series has now departed the Ballpark (at least for this year), and if you missed it, you missed plenty.
You missed a rare, perfect game by Spalding University’s Tyler Brown.
You missed an unthinkable, three wins on one day by Briarcliffe College to hang on to their national title.
And you really missed a show of great courage by Josh Linn, the designated hitter from Southern Virginia University.
Now if you were on hand while SVU was playing, you wouldn’t have missed seeing Linn.
The sophomore from Muskogee, Okla. (you can bet he’s proud of that) is a very large man who can mash a baseball a very long way.
What he can’t do is run very well.
Not under the best of conditions, and certainly not on a wet track with an exploded “hammie”.
Linn, who transferred to SVU at the beginning of this semester, pulled his left hamstring in the first game of the season and has been walking (when not running) gingerly ever since.
The raw conditions that buffeted OOB this week only made things worse.
“For some reason, the cold weather up here was really getting to it,” he said. “I knew that if I was going to run, that something bad was going to happen. Luckily, it didn’t happen until the end.”
What happened at the end of the championship game with Briarcliffe was this.
With Briarcliffe leading by five runs and trying to nail down the last out, Linn kept the Knights breathing when he launched an RBI double into the fog shrouded center field gap.
With his left leg still throbbing, it was all he could do to propel himself down the first base line.
And because the opportunity presented itself, Linn rounded the first base bag and turned toward second.
Anything to keep the hopeless rally alive.
“I gave it my all,” Linn said. “I knew I wasn’t hitting a double. But the throw wasn’t very good, and I read that. I was just going to get everything I got to get there. The Good Lord willing, He was going to take care of the rest. I got there safely. I hurt the ”˜hammy’ a little bit, but it will be better.”
Any pain caused by that injury is insignificant compared to that which he felt on March 23, when his father, Jerry Don “J.D.” Linn, died at age 53.
Josh said that his father, who taught him and his brothers how to play ball, was a tremendous figure in his life.
“My dad was big time. He was all about baseball. He’s the one who taught me all I know,” he said.
Not only was J.D. his sternest coach, he was also Linn’s most rabid fan.
“It was really hard to lose him, although we were kind of expecting it,” Linn said. “The last time he actually watched me play, was my (high school) regional championship my senior year, in which we won. Luckily, he was able to see me win.”
Linn said that the memory of his dad was what helped spur him to set aside the ache in his leg and put out his all on the basepaths.
“I know he was here with me spiritually tonight,” Linn said. “I wish he could have been here. I know he would have been proud. But he would have been wanting more.”
Perhaps.
But he couldn’t have asked for better.
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com or follow on Twitter @DanHickling.
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