Arizona beat rival Arizona State at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Thursday in the first game of a four-game series.
The series resumes in Phoenix on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.). The fourth game, deemed a non-conference game, is at Hi Corbett Field on Tuesday (6 p.m.).
It was an illustrious start Thursday for the Wildcats (17-7, 4-3 Pac-12) as they were able to score three times in the first two innings.
Arizona’s Pac-12 Player of the Week from the beginning month of March, Branden Boissiere, went 3-for-5 with a double, a pair of singles and two RBIs.
Second baseman Kobe Kato also went 3-for-5 with two runs and double.
Jacob Blas and Tanner O’Tremba who both went 2-for-5.
Daniel Susac, who went 1-for-5, was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week ahead of the series.
Arizona’s Chase Silseth pitched shut-out ball through three innings, but in the fourth, the Sun Devils found some holes scoring five earned runs.
Chandler Murphy came into the game in relief of Silseth and went the distance. Murphy pitched five innings of shut-out ball and struck out a career-high eight Devils, earning his third win of the season. At one point, Murphy struck out six batters in a row.
10-5 Cats! pic.twitter.com/1MFanXcm5J
— Jay Johnson (@UACoachJ) April 2, 2021
Arizona would add one run in the fifth and six in the seventh, which was the nail in the coffin for Arizona State. The Wildcats had five hits and took advantage of three ASU errors in their seventh-inning rally.
Tremba’s bases-clearing triple highlighted the inning.
The Wildcats will send Garrett Irvin (1-1, 2.19 ERA) to the mound Friday. ASU is slated to start right-hander Tyler Thornton (1-1, 3.86).
The 10 runs scored by the Wildcats is tied for the most surrendered by ASU all year. It marks the 11th time Arizona has scored in double digits.
Click here for a box score of Thursday’s game.
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