The Carpenter Cup championship concluded just before heavy rain and wind pelted Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, but the storm that did the real damage came in the fourth inning.

A five-run fourth inning was the most damaging strike for the Lehigh Valley squad, as it could never overcome the deficit en route to a 9-2 defeat by Mercer County. The Lehigh Valley squad hoped to win their fourth title in franchise history, but an 11-hit effort by Mercer County helped secure their second title ever and first since 2004.

The championship game started after a four-hour delay from its regularly scheduled 10 a.m. start because of Mercer County's suspended contest against Jersey Shore, which started in the seventh inning on Tuesday and ended up being an 8-6 victory for the champions.

"They made the plays and found the holes and made the key hits," said Lehigh Valley manager Ted Plessl. "You have to tip your hat to them."

Mercer County started with a two-out rally in the fourth, courtesy of two hit batters, a walk and three singles to shake the confidence of the Lehigh Valley squad.

Pitcher Mike Nikorak (Stroudsburg) started the contest and pitched three scoreless innings, but Central Caholic's Walt Roland and Liberty's Matt Leon pitched in the fourth. Roland was a pitch away from ending the inning on two occasions and could never get the final out. Things ballooned from there and became even more cemented after Mercer County used a three-run sixth to take a commanding 8-1 lead.

"We played real well throughout the whole tournament and we thought we had the momentum coming in because of the game being pushed back," said Leon. "It just wasn't our day. We just couldn't get out of that fourth and we couldn't get the bats going either."

Phil Stokes (Stroudsburg) and Chris Rabasco (Parkland) each knocked in RBI's for the Lehigh Valley in the sixth and eighth innings respectively.

Some Parkland-area players also contribute to Monday's 4-1 semifinal win over Tri-Cape.

Parkland's Brad Vasilik scored a run in that game and Roland, a North Parkland legion player, pitched the game's first three innings.

Parkland pitcher Tyler Duff entered in the seventh, but only saw three batters. Gabe Mosser, who filled the closer role throughout the competition, came in and made quick work of his opponents for the third straight game.

Mosser did not allow a man on base and retired eight straight with two strikeouts to give his team a chance for another title.

"I just wanted to throw strikes and get the ball in play so the defense can do their job," said Mosser. "I work at a fast pace and throw a lot of strikes. I'm not really wild and I like to have batters chase me. It was a little intimidating coming in here because this place is so big, but it's just a great experience."

In Friday's quarterfinal win over Olympic/Colonial, 7-5 at Philadelphia's FDR Park, Damin Muth knocked in the go-ahead run for the Lehigh Valley. Chris Rabasco also had an RBI single in the inning.

"We just battled back after falling behind and our pitching came through for us," said Muth. "We had 15 hits in the first game [of the tournament] and we know we're a good hitting team. We felt like we were going to put together an inning like we did in the sixth and thankfully we were able to."

Roland pitched one inning in the quartefinal. Tyler Duff came on in relief in the eighth.