PHILADELPHIA - Ted Plessl has been around for quite some time, managing countless Lehigh Valley baseball teams in the annual Carpenter Cup Classic. He looked at this year's team and had high expectations for his squad, due in large part to the pitching staff on the roster.

But sometimes things don't go as planned. Plessl didn't get to see that staff's full potential come to fruition.Instead it was Tri-Cape that stole the show.Tri-Cape's offense erupted for 19 runs on 12 hits in Wednesday's first-round game against Lehigh Valley, securing a 19-0 shutout victory at UYA Showcase Field at

F.D.R. Park. Tri-Cape's pitching rotation was just as impressive, allowing just three Lehigh Valley hits in nine innings of play to open the 30th Annual Carpenter Cup Classic."It was a day we didn't expect," Plessl said. "We actually as a staff felt this was a strong enough team, with the pitching that we had, that we were a contender for the title."I tip my hat off to the other team. They outplayed us in every phase of the game. And that happens."Lehigh Valley, who has won three Carpenter Cup championships since its inception in 1986 and most recently in 2011, suffered its worst lost in its history. Lehigh Valley lost to SOL National 17-3 in 1993, marking their highest-margin of defeat before Wednesday.It was an outcome that no one had anticipated after Lehigh Valley had been a steady presence in the tournament's championship game in recent years."We've been one of the best teams down here over the years," Plessl said. "We've been to Citizen's Bank Park four out of the last six years. We've had two times that we lost in the last game, and we won it three times. This one hurts because we didn't expect it. But we had really good ballplayers."Starter Conner Higgins of Parkland walked three of Tri-Cape's first four batters, resulting in a quick 3-0 lead after two runs on wild pitches and CJ LaFragola's RBI groundout.When Higgins was pulled early in the second inning after walking the first two batters, Tri-Cape's bats didn't let up one bit. Pleasant Valley's Travis VanHouten walked the first batter he faced, and a three-run triple by Buddy Kennedy pushed their lead to 6-0. Anthony Harrold, LaFragola and Sean Carew added RBIs to make it 9-0 after two.Tri-Cape scored six more runs in the third, added two more in the fifth and capped their afternoon with two in the eighth."We weren't swinging at good pitches," said Northwestern's Tyler Schreiner, who played first base and walked in the eighth inning. "We were taking too many pitches. That sort of affected us because we wouldn't get any runners on and it was hard to hit from behind in the count."But while the scoreboard shows the team's most-lopsided loss ever, the players were able to experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plessl commended his players for their play."Nobody here should be defined by what happened today," Plessl said. "This happens at every level of the game that you play in. Unfortunately today wasn't our day.""Coach just said to keep our heads up, and today was not one of our best days," Schreiner said. "He said for us underclassmen to come back out next year to turn everything around."Pleasant Valley's Nicholas Domenici played in left field for Lehigh Valley and went 0-for-2 at the plate to round out the Times News area players.Lehigh Valley 000 000 000 - 0 3 7Tri-Cape 366 020 02x - 19 12 2Higgins, VanHouten (2), Cooperman (3), Jacoby (6), McAndrew (7), Solis (8) and Burke, Steidinger (6); Murphy, Arnold (4), Listro (5), Droboniku (7), Ardente (8), Bentley (9) and Todd and Versage (5). W - Murphy, L - Higgins.