File photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Connor Bode (1) gets a five from teammate Jensen Gerdts (6) after scoring a run against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on May 14 at Johnson Park in New Ulm. Pictured in back is GFW catcher Kolten Pingeon.

NEW ULM — Riding a four-game win streak into the Section 2A playoffs, Minnesota Valley Lutheran will look to keep its momentum going Thursday.

The Chargers, who ended their regular season at 10-9, are looking to keep improving.

“We have seen definite improvement from a year ago [a 2-14 record] — we have made a big step forward,” Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz said. “And we feel that there is some unfinished business yet. We feel that we left some games out there to all four of the teams ahead of us in the Tomahawk [Conference] and we feel that we could of should of won minimally one or two of those games against each of them. We had things not quite go our way. We have some unfinished business and we feel that we are hitting our stride a little bit now and are ready to go.”

The Chargers are on a four-game win streak, with one of those wins coming at home against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on May 14 as the Chargers won 10-0 in five innings.

And GFW is in for a rematch with MVL this Thursday as the Thunderbirds got the ninth seed. The game will take place at 5 p.m. at Mueller Park.

Buboltz said the Chargers’ strong point this season has been the pitching staff.

“Our starting pitching with Bradyn Kube, Zach Rieder and Josh Vander Plas — that has been our strength,” he said. “They have kept us in every game that they could. And with the pitching staff you have to add in our catcher, Kaden Peterson. He is such a good catcher. KP is one of the best in the area and he does a great job with our pitchers calling the game, but then his defense is fantastic.”

Offensively, the Chargers have struggled this season.

“We have had some opportunities that we have taken advantage of,” Buboltz said. “We have been spotty at times. KP is hitting .431 — Zach is at .367 and Bradyn is at .353. But as a team we have just struggled to get that big hit. In those eight games against those top four teams in the conference, we have had every opportunity to win. But we can’t go back and change that.”

Buboltz thinks that the Chargers are focusing in on the postseason.

“In our last four games, we have not issued a walk and just two errors,” Buboltz said. “We have made some changes on defense lately and that has really tightened up the defense. If we tighten up our defense, that will help us more on offense.”

And Section 2A is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, in the state. Of the 15 teams in the section, five are ranked in the top 20 in the state.

Springfield is third at 18-2, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s is fourth at 16-3, Sleepy Eye Public is 10th at 13-5, New Ulm Cathedral is 11th at 15-4 and Madelia is 18th at 13-4.

“It is amazing baseball,” Buboltz said. “That is why we are happy to play both A and AA teams, but every Class A team that we have played at the top of our conference has been like playing a AA team. It is unreal the amount of great baseball programs just in our little area.”

Buboltz said that to win Section 2A is using the recipe the Chargers are using now.

“No walks, very few to any errors and you need that one big hit,” he said. “Many of these games are low-scoring and it may be one hit here or there.”

SECTION 2A SEEDINGS

1. Springfield; 2. Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s; 3. Sleepy Eye Public; 4. Cathedral; 5. Mankato Loyola; 6. Madelia; 7. Martin Luther; 8. Minnesota Valley Lutheran; 9. GFW; 10. Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey; 11. BOLD; 12. Heron Lake-Okabena; 13. MCW; 14. BLHS; 15. Cleveland (did not get enough games in).