Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran pitcher Kaden Peterson delivers a pitch in the first inning of a South Central Conference baseball game against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial on Tuesday at Mueller Park.

NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran used a six-run second inning and then rode the pitching of Kaden Peterson and Kyan Kube as they rolled by Lake Crystal-Welcome Memorial 9-3 Tuesday afternoon in a South Central Conference baseball game at Mueller Park.

Peterson got the win on the mound, going four innings and allowing two runs on four hits while striking out eight.

Kube tossed the final three innings permitting a run and fanning two.

Brennan Bendix and Josh Vander Plas each had two hits. Peterson drove in two runs, with Vander Plas driving in four.

“This is our first win in the new [South Central] Conference so we are happy about that,” Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz said. “I was really happy with our defense and we got some timely hitting.”

The Chargers, who play at Maple River Thursday, fell behind 1-0 to the Knights before tying the contest in the bottom of the inning when Connor Bode walked and stole second — one of seven steals of second in the game by MVL — before scoring on a Bendix single.

The Chargers then realistically salted the game away in the second as they parlayed four hits and three walks into a six run outburst.

Kube coaxed a one-out walk before Josh Carlovsky singled. Aiden Eckberg walked to load the bases.

A Bode RBI single moved the Chargers to a 2-1 lead. A Bendix free pass forced in Carlovsky for a 3-1 lead.

Peterson followed with a two-run double for a 5-1 cushion before Vander Plas doubled in his first two runs of the game for a 7-1 lead.

Buboltz said he was happy with the key hits for the Chargers in the game.

“I thought that we came up in really great spots — KP with the big double and Josh with a couple of two-run singles,” he said. “Our top of the order set the table and drove in the runs.”

He also praised Peterson’s mound performance especially in the third inning where Peterson worked out of a bases loaded jam and allowed just one run.

“He buckled down in an inning that could have turned the game around,” Buboltz said.

The Knights cut the lead to 7-2 in the top of the sixth but MVL responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning coming courtesy of Vander Plas’ second two-run single of the game.

“Brennan had a great day for us filling in as catcher and then Connor at shortstop, I think that our hitting really came around today and I liked our approach at the plate.”