Close your eyes.

His smile stays with you …

As the community tries to come to grips with the death of 22-year-old Scott Heinig, those who knew him best promise his memory will live on — while those lives he touched will always be better for the popular student-athlete’s brief stay.

“He always made you feel important. He cared about how you were doing,” longtime friend and former Davis High teammate Ty Windall recalls.

Windall, who is a 2006 DHS graduate and currently plays baseball at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho, last saw Heinig at Christmas break:

“I’d call him when I needed encouragement … he always told me ‘Just enjoy (the college experience). It goes by super fast … enjoy EVERY minute.”

Heinig died Sunday afternoon from a head injury suffered from a fall during what one witness called “good-natured horseplay,” at a small party Saturday evening in Davis.

Heinig was the pitching coach for the Blue Devils and worked at the local Target store.

Baseball was Heinig’s passion. He played for DHS, Cosumnes River College and then UC Davis, sandwiching in seasons with Yolo Post 77 (American Legion) and two summers in Arcata playing for the Humboldt Crabs — a summer wood-bat league for collegiates.

A relief pitcher and team captain at UCD, Heinig graduated last year.

“Both as a player and coach he meant everything to us,” DHS coach Dan Ariola said Sunday, sitting in the dugout at the high school — watching dozens of mourners place flowers, gifts and notes on the mound, remembering their friend as best they could.

“As a player, he carried us with his positive attitude,” Ariola continued. “(This season) Scott wasn’t just our pitching coach. He worked with the hitters. He threw his arm off tossing batting practice.

“He was there for everyone, always. We’re going to miss him.”

The high school team wrestled with whether it should compete this week in the scheduled Fresno Easter Classic. After a group session with counselors Monday at Davis High, the Blue Devils elected to participate in the annual tourney.

With “SH 20″ embroidered on their hats, Davis beat North of Bakersfield, 5-0, in the first round on Monday.

“I was proud of the team,” Ariola said. “It was real tough for us, though.

“Right now, I’m thinking about how (Scott’s) family is doing. That’s my first concern,” the coach added. “And making sure my players can get through it.”

Heinig is survived by his parents, Jane and Mark, and sister Adrienne. Jane and Adrienne Heinig briefly stopped at the DHS diamond on Sunday when informed of the ongoing tribute being paid to Scott.

According to family members, a memorial service has not yet been scheduled.

On Sunday, friends and former teammates, current Blue Devils and folks who just knew of what Heinig meant to the community greeted one another at the high school facility, sharing stories about Scott.

“I had him at Valley Oak,” teacher/coach Bob Creely remembers. “He was an awesome kid … always had that great smile on his face.”

Soon, Creely would be Heinig’s junior varsity coach at DHS.

“That kid could play anywhere. Even though he had that incredible talent, he still wanted to work hard at it. He was amazing.”

Then last summer, when Creely’s Junior American Legion team played in Arcata, there was Humboldt Crab Scott Heinig …

“You just remember the smile. There it was, the same one I saw in sixth grade,” Creely went on. “He talked with our kids. Gave them some peer advice. You could see the connection he made with the players. They got attached. It was almost immediate.”

On Monday night, the softball team on which Heinig played — the Deezers — started their game with an offering of flowers and prayers at shortstop. Flowers were then moved to the batter’s box where Heinig’s spirit led off the inning.

The Deezers scored nine times in that first inning, going on to win, 18-4.

“We met at Target in January,” Kip Meade, the Deezers’ manager, said before Monday’s recreational-league game. “He just got me through the day. We’d argue about instant replay in baseball and talk all the time about baseball.”

As co-workers, Meade said Heinig’s positive influence made early-morning (4:45 a.m. start) hours bearable and he brought people along with his cheerfulness and work ethic.

“On the way there (Monday) I just lost it. I knew this would be like the longest day ever,” Meade continued.

Meade awoke Sunday, on his birthday, to 30 text messages received:

“I thought, ‘Well, they’re just happy birthday greetings… It was people wondering what happened to Scott. It was terrible. It IS terrible.”

Former Devil pitching coach Marc Kenner, a man who helped develop Heinig as a player, searched for words.

“Scott was one of the kids that made coaching worthwhile. He already had great ability, but he separated himself by always wanting to learn, to get better.

“He just made coaching fun. That’s why you coach, for kids like Scott.”

Ben Eckels, a junior pitcher at Davis High, credited Heinig for his recent improvement on the mound.

“He helped me a lot in my mechanics, but he was my inspiration to come practice,” Eckels said just before Monday’s victory over North. “As a team we just need to try to go (through) this and focus.”

Condolences and offers of help poured in from city officials, UCD administrators and friends from afar.

Davis resident and Heinig’s Cosumnes River coach Tony Bloomfield was close to the Heinig family, spending Friday night at The Graduate together after DHS’ game  against Grant.

“He came to play for us at CRC even though he had options to attend four-year schools,” Bloomfield said. “He was the ultimate team player and the BEST teammate.”

Bloomfield said he once gave Heinig “his ultimate compliment …”

“I hope my son grows up to be like you and I hope my daughter marries a guy like you.”

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Scott Heinig delivers a pitch during a 2009 UCD game against San Francisco. Then a junior, Heinig came on in relief and pitched two scoreless innings, striking out four. In his senior season, Heinig was elected an Aggie team captain. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise file photo

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Scott Heinig follows through after connecting with a pitch in a DHS game during his senior season in 2006. He was named the Monticello Empire League’s Player of the Year for his performance that season. Heinig, 22, died on Sunday. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise file photo

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Players for the Deezers, a city league softball team of which Scott Heinig was a member, gather around flowers and other offerings that they placed at Heinig’s shortstop position before their game on Monday. Heinig, 22, died on Sunday. From left are Tim Schimmel, Ray Sahadeo, Kip Meade, Dom Verutti, Nate Engstrom and Ryan Sahadeo. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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