OREFIELD - Ninety feet was all that separated Tamaqua from another miracle.

But this time, there was no fantastic finish.This time, the tying and winning runs never made it home.This time, jubilation was replaced with tears.When Brett Kosciolek's sharp grounder was turned into an unassisted putout at first, the Raiders' incredible 2014 campaign came to an end Monday night at Parkland High School.For Tamaqua's three seniors, the heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Pope John Paul II in the PIAA Class AAA state semifinals not only meant an end to the season, it meant an end to their high school careers.Over the last four seasons, Matt Roberts, Ian Nicholls and Adam Bates helped turn around the Tamaqua baseball program.Playing for a team that went just 14-26 with no postseason appearances during their freshman and sophomore seasons, they were determined to make sure that changed.And did it ever!The last two seasons, Tamaqua has earned a place among the state's elite baseball teams. The Raiders have won 38 games, a Schuylkill League title, two District 11 championships, and played in five PIAA state playoff games."We knew we had the talent," said Nicholls, who tossed five superb innings of shutout baseball last night. "It was just a matter of playing to the best of our ability."No one was happy about our record freshman and sophomore years and the entire team worked hard to turn things around."Roberts added, "We were so close in so many games our sophomore year. It was really frustrating because we knew we were better than our record (5-15) showed."We lost a lot of one-run games that season and I think it left everyone anxious to show that wasn't us. We knew we were better and we wanted to prove it."The Raiders did prove that last season when they went 18-8, won a pair of championships and reached the PIAA quarterfinals."Last year was huge," said Bates. "We started winning the close games and the confidence of the entire team just took off."As seniors, we wanted to make sure that everyone on the team knew that we expected that same kind of success this year as well."With a second consecutive District 11 title, 20 victories, and an even further run in the state playoffs, Tamaqua obviously found more of the success Bates was talking about.But all that success doesn't make the end any easier, especially when you have been playing together as long as Tamaqua's three seniors have been."We've probably been playing baseball together nine months a year since we were nine years old," said Roberts. "All through Little League, travel ball and now high school."I'm so proud of the two great seasons we just put together, but I still feel horrible right now."Bates and Nicholls echoed those thoughts."It's pretty upsetting," Bates said. "It hit me when the game ended that this will probably be the last time I get to play baseball with guys that I've been playing with since Little League."Nicholls added, "I look at these guys like brothers. I think that was a huge part of our success the last two years. The entire team was like a family."Tamaqua coach Jeff Reading said the contributions of the three seniors will be missed."Not only did Matt, Adam and Ian all contribute to our success by their play on the field, but they provided great leadership," said Reading. "I usually rely on my seniors for leadership and the three of them really filled that role well this year."I'm sure the loss hurts right now, but they accomplished so much the last two years. Eventually, they are going to look back at everything we've done and really feel good about the roles they played in that success."Roberts showed some of the leadership that Reading marveled about in a message for the team's underclassmen."There is a lot of talent returning next year," he said. "Tamaqua baseball has set some high standards and I expect that to continue. We've come so close the last two years, next year I expect the guys to keep building on that."Roberts, Bates and Nicholls won't be on the field contributing to any success Tamaqua experiences in 2015. But the contributions they've made the past two years to the Raiders' baseball program have certainly paved the road to a promising future.