A case of the stomach flu couldn’t keep the Desert Vista Thunder from competing on Friday. Even when their second basemen, senior Kaeden Moore, had to play catcher due to all of their other catchers being out sick.

“It caught me by suprise (being asked), but I was ready to go,” Moore said.

Through their pitching and situational hitting, the Thunder (9-7) defeated the Brophy Broncos (7-5), 8-4.

The Broncos were able to strike early off of Thunder pitcher, senior Brandon Childers, after senior Sean Cooper scored on junior Michael Diaz’s groundout.

Broncos head coach Josh Garcia was happy to see his team start the game off early with the momentum.

“I always tell the guys that as an offense we need to just keep adding on,” Garcia said. “However, we offensively didn’t make any more adjustments towards him.”

Childers ended up finding his groove after that. He did not allow a single hit going into the third inning.

Thunder head coach Cody Brassfield couldn’t have been more impressed.

“Brandon was awesome,” Brassfield said. “He kept the ball down and he competed.”

Childers' efforts were heavily supported by his lineup in the top of the third. After senior Tyler Bauer hit a triple to knock in junior Dylan Mckee, the inning finished off with a solo homerun by senior Dylan Cuenca to give the Thunder a 3-1 lead.

“I had a lot of confidence going back on the mound,” Childers said. “Always relying on my guys to stay with me and help me along the way.”

The Broncos almost came back to make this game interesting by scoring two additional runs in the bottom of the fourth, but the Thunder were quick to respond. Still holding onto to a one-run lead, thanks to senior Eli Ankeney scoring after hitting a double in the fourth, they were able to score two in both the fifth and sixth, securing the lead for the remainder of the game.

Moore, who had two singles in that time span, was excited to see the lineup consistently contributing.

“We have a lineup that can do so much for us and back up our pitchers,” Moore said.

After Childers was pulled in the middle of the fourth, senior Tyler Magin came in to finish the game for the Thunder. Childers couldn’t have been more content with his replacement.

“I can always rely on him to come in after me and just shut the door,” Childers said.

Magin was able to do just that. He did give up one run, but didn’t allow a single hit for the remainder of the game.

Moore credits a mentality change since last season for Magin’s performance.

“He just wants to be there, get the outs, and be that guy,” Moore said.

Though the game didn’t go in their favor, Garcia wants his team to take this game as a learning experience with conference games coming soon.

“We need to be tougher and be able to overcome some situations that we could have overcame today,” Garcia said.

Broncos senior Mason Kokodynski said the team couldn’t be more excited for what is to come in conference play.

“We are ready to get out there and just grind,” Kokodynski said.

Brophy’s next game will be Monday afternoon at Maryvale, while Desert Vista will play at Highland High School next Tuesday at 4 p.m.