PHILADELPHIA - The Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup team lost in the opening round of this year's tournament, falling to Jersey Shore, 4-2, on Thursday.

Lehigh Valley batters struck out 15 times in the nine-inning game and managed just four hits off Jersey Shore."We expected more out of our bats," said Lehigh Valley head coach Ted Plessl. "Other than one hanging curveball, we were in the game, but down here we know you have to score runs in order to compete. They're all good hitters, but we just didn't get it done today at the plate."Jersey Shore got on the board in the first inning after Bethlehem Catholic pitcher Matthew Morrow walked the first two batters and Sal Monticiollo singled to make it 1-0.Jersey Shore got its leadoff batter on base in seven of the eight innings.After the Lehigh Valley went down on three straight strike outs in the second inning, Jersey Shore posted another run on a single, two walks and a hit batter in the bottom of the second.Lehigh Valley got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Pen Argyl's Alejandro Santiago reached base on an error and came in on a fielder's choice off the bat of Tamaqua's Casey Rother, one of four Times News area players on the Lehigh Valley roster.Lehigh Valley tied the game in the fourth when Northwestern's Jacob Haas singled and scored on a error to make it 2-2.Notre Dame's Steven Luke, who relieved Morrow with the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning, held Jersey Shore to just two runs until coming out in the fourth for Parkland's Ryan Giovenco. Giovenco seemed to be in a groove for a couple innings before giving up a two-run home run in the sixth inning that was the difference in the game.Mike Jenkins of Parkland took the mound in the bottom of the sixth and held Jersey Shore hitless over the final two innings.In addition to Rother and Haas, other Times News area players in the game were Northwestern brothers Tyler and Trevor Schreiner.