So, in its first outing since Sunday’s high-octane hitting, ASU’s lineup felt the pressure to deliver for a crowd of 4,678 fans at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Tuesday, March 10, in the first installment of the Territorial Cup on the diamond this season.

While the Sun Devils didn’t replicate Sunday’s crooked number, ASU (12-4) rolled its way to double-digit runs once again, topping in-state rival Arizona (6-10) 10-4 on Tuesday.

Seven of nine Sun Devils notched a hit on Tuesday, with five of those hitters driving in at least a run in the win.

Runs driven in by sophomore infielder Austin Roellig bookended the game, as he started the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first and solidified the final score with a two-run single in the eighth.

Tuesday marked Roellig’s new season high for RBI in a game, surpassing a two-RBI outing against UConn on Feb. 17.

Graduate outfielder Dean Toigo and sophomore infielder Landon Hairston both drove in two runs by way of the homer.

First, Toigo sent a towering fly ball over the right-field fence in the fourth inning, giving ASU a 3-1 lead it never gave up and ultimately running the Wildcats starter, junior right-hander Collin McKinney, out of the game.

Then, later in the same inning, Hairston took McKinney’s replacement, senior righty Matthew Martinez, deep to right field to extend the Sun Devils’ lead to 6-1.

It was the sixth home run of the campaign for both Toigo and Hairston, tying junior infielder Dominic Longo for the team lead in long balls.

Hairston’s two RBI gave the Queen Creek native his fifth multi-RBI game of the season and increased his season total to 24 runs driven in, good for the team lead.

Sophomore infielder Beckett Zavorek also made his mark on Tuesday, lacing an RBI double into the outfield between Toigo and Hairston’s fourth-inning dingers.

Zavorek’s two-hit day extended his active hitting streak to four games, coming from three different slots in the batting order and three different positions on the field.

On the bump, ASU got a productive pitching performance from five different arms, all pitching three innings or less.

Sophomore right-hander Taylor Penn and senior left-hander Sean Fitzpatrick got the bulk of the innings out of the bullpen, both throwing three one-hit, scoreless innings on Tuesday. 

Penn received credit for the win, improving to 3-0 on the season.

Sun Devils junior right-hander Colin Linder got the ball and contributed two innings, allowing three hits and a run in the abbreviated start.

While the ASU bullpen as a whole performed well in the win, junior right-hander Jaden Alba left much to be desired, surrendering two hits and three runs without recording a single out.

Even though Alba only gave up an earned run in two of his five outings this season, runs seem to come in bunches with Alba on the hill. The other instance of Alba allowing earned runs this season came on March 1, where Texas A&M battered Alba for six runs across three innings in Alba’s only start of the season to this point.

After hitting a major rough patch on a road trip to Texas, Tuesday’s win lengthened the Sun Devils’ winning streak to four following a weekend sweep of the Lions at home from March 6-8. 

However, ASU’s task of extending the hot streak is only going to get more difficult, as No. 17 TCU pays a visit to Phoenix to officially kick off Big 12 conference play in a weekend series from March 13-15.