Photo by Travis Rosenau/The Journal Wabasso second baseman Calvin Hanna flips the ball to first for an out during the second inning of a Tomahawk Conference baseball game with Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Thursday at Mueller Park in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — The Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers’ early-season dominance against Tomahawk Conference baseball teams continued Thursday at Mueller Park.

The Chargers jumped to an 8-3 lead over Wabasso after three innings and then sealed the game with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to end with a 12-3 win.

MVL has now outscored its first four conference opponents 51-7 as they moved to 4-0 in conference play.

Bradyn Kube got the pitching win for the Chargers. Kube went four innings and allowed three runs — all unearned — and struck out four.

Josh Vanderplas pitched the final three innings and scattered two hits.

Kaysen Harms took the loss for Wabasso (0-2). He went three innings and allowed eight runs on five hits.

Vanderplas led the Chargers offensively with two hits and drove in three runs.

Jaxson Wagner had two of seven Wabasso hits in the game.

“I thought that Bradyn battled out there tonight,” Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz said. “We need to play a little bit better defense (three errors) and we left (13) runners on base. But if you score 12 runs and leave 13 runners on base, you are getting yourself in the right spots.”

The Chargers, who host Springfield on April 18, scored twice in the bottom of the first when Connor Bode reached on an infield error and Zach Riederer walked. A Vanderplas single plated Bode before two consecutive hit batters added the second run.

Wabasso took a 3-2 lead in the top of the second on a bases-loaded infield error with two outs and a Noah Anderson RBI single.

But the Chargers responded with two runs in the bottom of the second. Brennan Bendix walked and took second on a wild pitch. He scored when Kaden Peterson reached on an infield error.

Riederer walked and a two-out single from Kube moved the Chargers to a 4-3 lead.

Jensen Gerdts led off the fourth, reaching on an error and took second on a Seth Schmidt  groundout. He trotted home on a Bendix double.

A Peterson single and a Bode infield single loaded the bases. Vanderplas was hit by a pitch to force in a run.

A Kube base hit added two more runs for an 8-3 lead.

“For early in the year for our first four games, I am real happy,” Buboltz said. 

The Chargers threatened in the fourth by loading the bases, but they failed to score until the home half of the sixth when they pushed four runs across.

A Gerdts single and one-out walks to Bendix, Peterson and Bode made it 9-3.

A Riederer groundout added another run before Vanderplas singled in two more runs for a 12-3 cushion.

Buboltz said that despite the 12 runs, he said that his team left potential runs on base.

“We are going to talk about two-strike approach with one out and the two-strike approach with two outs,” he said. “We are putting in the work and these guys want to work.”

Buboltz was also happy with his mound duo of Kube and Vanderplas.

“They both worked really well together,” he said. “And I think that KP (Kaden Peterson) does a great job behind the plate.”