The last time Lehigh Valley's Carpenter Cup run came to an end in the first round was in 2006. Their opponent was Burlington County out of New Jersey.

Last Thursday, Lehigh Valley once again met Burlington County. This time it was in the opening round and the result was much like the 2006 meeting.

Following a brief 1-0 lead for Lehigh Valley in the top of the first, Burlington County scored four in the bottom half of the frame to regain control. Lehigh Valley made it a one-run game in the third, but Burlington County's bats were too much, scoring two in each of the fourth and fifth to secure the 8-4 victory in a rain-shortened game at Ashburn Field in FDR Park.

Thursday's loss marked just the sixth time in the Carpenter Cup's 22-year history that Lehigh Valley lost in their first game.

"The thing that's difficult here is that we work extremely hard to give every kid the same experience that I believe we've given our kids for 22 years," coach J.F. Pirro said. "I just don't feel like we did that this year, so we're disappointed.

"We worked really hard to give the kids the same quality experience."

Collin Stringham's three-run homer gave Burlington a 4-1 advantage early. The shot narrowly escaped being a foul ball.

"The ball that went out couldn't have been fair by more than six inches," Pirro aid. "That's a hard way to lose three runs right off the bat."

The LV team responded with two runs in the third inning, capped by a run from Jon Cintron, who scored after TJ Backer reached base on an error.

Burlington extended the lead with two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings.

LV's Chris Rabasco scored on a sacrifice fly to keep Lehigh Valley within striking distance. But Burlington County opened the lead up to 8-4 before the game was called after seven innings due to rain.

"We remained in the game for most of those innings, and we came back again and had opportunities" Pirro said. "But then when they end the game due to weather, you're sort of out of opportunities.

"Burlington is a very good team year after year, [and] so have we been. It's just a matter of matching two of the best teams in the history of the tournament against one another in the first round, and somebody has to go."