The moment Whitmer (Toledo, Ohio) sophomore outfielder Josh Close calls the best of his young life came on a baseball field, but it had nothing to do with baseball at all.
Before a game last week, Close was told his father Mark and sister Asia — respectively a Master Sergeant and Airman First Class in the Air Force — would be delayed on their flight home from a deployment in Guam, according to WTOL-TV.
So, it came as a shock when his coach called time as soon as he took the field, only to have his father and sister emerge in uniform from behind the dugout, per WTOL-TV.
@SportsCenter @espn Definite #SCtop10 Dad & daughter return home from 6 month deployment to surprise son! #Family pic.twitter.com/z8XdrvwiuK
— David Hamen (@thetrainerdave) April 21, 2016
“He told me to go in and I started sprinting towards them, and I just gave them a big hug and it was awesome,” Josh told the local television news station. “I told them, I was like this is the first time I’ve ever cried on the field before. I was just in total shock. It was awesome.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Close treated his family to a double in his first at-bat.