As the snow and ice continue to plague the area, the Tamaqua High School boys' basketball team prepares for Friday's state tournament playoff game against Steelton-Highspire.

But for several members of the team, the wintery precipitation and arctic-like conditions in Pennsylvania could quickly be replaced by sunshine and 60 degree temperatures.It's March on the calendar and spring sports' teams have begun to practice in gyms and school parking lots whenever possible. To get a jump start in the early season, Raider baseball coach Jeff Reading and his ball club are traveling to Hilton Head, South Carolina to practice and play games against two local schools.The problem? Redding's Raiders may be competing against Hilton Head and Buford High Schools without five of his key varsity players."This is the first time since 1995, that our school's basketball team has made the state playoffs." said Redding. "We have five of their players on our baseball roster. (Brett Kosciolek, Bo Rottet, Russell Blaker, Nate MacDonald, and Thad Zuber), who have played a significant role in their run to the playoffs and I could not be happier for them. They are special athletes and we will be rooting for them during our trip to South Carolina."This will be the second year in a row that the school's booster club has raised money to send the baseball team south. The planning began last summer and dates for travel and hotel reservations were set a few months ago."As far as our five players are concerned, it's obviously more important they focus on basketball now," said Redding.The Tamaqua baseball team finished last season with a 21-8 record. It won the District 11 Class AAA championship before suffering a 1-0 semifinal loss to eventual state champion Pope John II in the PIAA State Tournament. The Raiders are geared to make another deep playoff run this year. They are led by pitcher/first baseman Brett Kosciolek, who has signed to play at Rider University next year, and by pitcher/shortstop Bo Rottet, who has committed to play in the middle infield for Kutztown in 2016.For obvious reasons, Redding is reluctant to discuss the "what if" scenario, but the circumstances surrounding the possibility of a Tamaqua basketball loss on Friday in regard to the five baseball players traveling to South Carolina is being addressed by the school administration.Tamaqua athletic director, Mike Hromyak says the baseball team is scheduled to leave in school vans on Thursday after the school day without the five players."Should the result of the basketball game not go in our favor, the five baseball players have been given the option to travel to Hilton Head on their own accord," said Hromyak. "With that said, it would not be an ideal situation for them to leave after the game on Friday night."The trip to Hilton Head takes about 12 hours. Hromyak says that, depending upon when their parents could begin the drive, it's most likely that these players would miss a practice and even one of the four games scheduled because they would not arrive until Saturday afternoon. The Raiders will be returning to Tamaqua on Monday."It's a tough call for the parents because it would an exhausting trip that begins after what could be an intensely emotional basketball game," said Hromyak. "I spoke with one parent and he said that even though making the trip on Friday after the game doesn't make logical sense when you look at time traveling round trip versus time actually spent there, he was still going to take his son because it's what we do as sports parents whatever it takes to give our kids the best possible experience in high school athletics as well as showing our loyalty to the team."Redding adds that it is no way a mandatory obligation that the five players have to go to South Carolina."We are taking 14 players. We know what we have in these five basketball players because they have shown their abilities on the baseball diamond," he said. "If they don't come, and we hope they don't because they will still be playing a state basketball game next week, it will give us a chance to try some of our younger players to see what they can do against good competition."The dilemma delivers an interesting scenario that could see Kosciolek and Rottet throwing fastballs in 70 degree weather just hours after he may have thrown up three point shots in a gym surrounded by ice and snow.But the success of the school's basketball team isn't the only thing that could impact the Raiders' trip to Hilton Head."The upcoming weather is another issue," said Hromyak. "This next storm could cancel school on Thursday and it's coming up from the South so with poor travel conditions, we might have to cancel everything."Hromyak and Redding are keeping their fingers crossed that the baseball team will make its trip safely and that the basketball team will win on Friday."That's the best we can hope for," said Redding.