Behind a strong outing from junior pitcher Alec Marsh, a perfectly-timed relief effort, and a late offensive burst, Arizona State picked up a series-opening win over its in-state rival, defeating the visiting Arizona Wildcats, 8-2, Friday night in Phoenix.

With the win, in front a Phoenix Municipal Stadium record crowd of 6,059, ASU (23-1, 6-1 Pac-12) not only matched 2018’s season win total, but also its number of wins over Arizona (13-12, 2-5 Pac-12) from a year ago.

But according to head coach Tracy Smith, his players didn’t treat it any differently. That was by design.

“They don’t treat these wins and losses any differently in the win and loss column,” he said. “Our goal daily is… we want to chase excellence every day. And if you’re chasing excellence every day, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you’re not playing the team in the other dugout, you’re playing yourself and what you’re trying to do as a team.”

Alec Marsh continued a strong start to 2019 with arguably one of his best showings of the season. After retiring the first 10 batters he faced, the junior right-hander allowed just one hit and two walks through the game’s first five frames, while striking out four in that span.

By game’s end, his final line included three hits, two earned runs, two walks, and four strikeouts through 6.1 innings pitched, as he improved to a perfect 8-0 with the win. While Friday night was Marsh’s first time allowing multiple earned runs in a game this season, he also matched a season-best in hits allowed in a start.

“For him to go in and set the tone like that, really week in and week out at this point has been huge,” Smith said. “He’s just pitching with a lot more confidence, he knows what he can execute.”

An early threat — bases loaded in the bottom of the first with no outs after a key fielding error led to a Spencer Torkelson ground-rule double — turned into just one run for the Sun Devils, who went hitless for the next two innings.

Alika Williams finally got things going in the fourth, leading off with a double only to be knocked in by a Carter Aldrete double on the very next at-bat. Aldrete was later knocked in on a Lyle Lin fielder’s choice, extending the lead to 3-0.

And of course, Hunter Bishop was there to keep things rolling in the bottom of the fifth. His nation’s-leading 15th home run of the season — a solo shot to center field — extended ASU’s advantage to four at the contest’s midway point.

“He’s really dialed in right now,” Smith said. “It’s funny, because he kind of got like one pitch to hit tonight, and he deposited it. I’m just impressed with the maturity and the growth in him, and what he’s been able to do up to this point.”

That was about it for quite a while from one of the nation’s best offenses. But even though there was more to come, that was all they really needed, anyway; Marsh remained a bouying constant while he was on the mound in one of the Sun Devils’ less impressive offensive nights of the season.

Aside from a couple of solo home runs in the sixth and seventh, his outing was pretty much everything you could ask for from a Friday starter; his ability to lock down the Wildcats’ bats gave ASU consistent breathing room, despite the Sun Devils only mustering four runs during his time on the mound.

When he left at the bottom of the seventh, though, things began to get hairy. After freshman Erik Tolman entered with a two-run lead and one out and walked three of the four batters he faced, sophomore Brady Corrigan was forced to come in and put out the fire.

Corrigan did exactly that, drawing a pop-out after just two pitches. That was pretty much the last ASU heard from the Wildcats on the night, as the Sun Devils responded in the bottom of the seven with four runs to break things open for good.

“Brady came in and shut it down,” Bishop said. “I think everybody had confidence he was going to do that. Last year, we weren’t really sure, but this year, we’re like 100 percent confident that whoever’s coming into the game is going to shut it down.”

The second of ASU’s three Territorial Cup games against Arizona this weekend is set for Saturday at 7 p.m., as the Sun Devils look to lock up their seventh-straight series victory to start the season.