ORANGE, Calif. – Orange Lutheran High School senior Brandon Heidal can't experience the real thing, so for right now, scrolling through baseball pictures will have to be enough. 

“Coach is telling us to get an out, nothing too big, just get the out," he recalled, looking at one image. 

Heidal has played baseball for the Lancers for four years, but his final season on the diamond never got to be fully played out. 

Schools across California closed on the week of March 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ahead of that closure, Orange Lutheran baseball was riding high — ranked as one of the best teams in the state and hoping to finally clinch a CIF Championship. 

Unfortunately, they never got the chance after the spring sports season was officially canceled. 

“Ever since freshman year, I’ve been talking about senior year," Heidal said. "I don’t even know how to describe that feeling. Something that you have no control over is taking away something you love.”

As he goes through the motions of playing baseball, not on a field, but in his garage, and learning, not from a classroom, but from his home, it's not just the thought of the unfinished season that weighs heavily on his mind. 

“Even if you don’t play a sport, having that graduation and that handshake at the final graduation, it’s something you dream about," he said. 

While that dream may no longer be a reality, he continues to push through day by day. Heidal takes comfort in reminiscing over old photos and talking to his teammates. 

It's also helped him to have a symbol of normalcy to the average senior displayed in his front yard — graduation lawn signs. 

“My mom loves these," he said with a smile. "When she saw this one she almost started crying.”

There are three in total; one representing his baseball team and the others his high school.

“It says 'finish strong,'" Heidal said. "And that’s what we’re trying to do at this point, just finishing strong.”

Although Heidal's high school sports career may forever remain unfinished business, it's something he will carry with him forever — a defining memory for a unique senior year. 

“It’s going to be something I look back on whenever I need a smile,” he said.