Cooper Eddy pitched nine strong innings and Ryan Barba had five RBI with a grand slam in Sunday's dramatic 6-3 win over UC-Santa Barbara at Isotopes Field.
The Lobos were down 2-1 when catcher A.J. Spitaleri stepped to the plate in the eighth with two men on base and two outs. Spitaleri worked a 1-2 count off righty Nate Holguin before hitting a slow-roller to short that was mishandled and scored shortstop Josh Mader from third base.
Tim Grady was then walked by Holquin.
With Barba coming to the plate with bases loaded and a chance to give the Lobos their first lead, a pitching change was made and right-hander Alex McRobbie was sent in to relieve Holguin.
Barba was opportunistic, smashing McRobbie's first pitch deep to left field and out of the park. The grand slam was the first home run of the sophomore second baseman's UNM career. The Lobos went up 6-2 and didn't look back in the ninth.
Barba said the home run felt good.
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"Especially to hit a grand slam to win the game," he said.
Barba said he'd been getting shut down by the curve ball all game, and had simply decided to turn on the first offering he could in that at bat.
"I just saw it and hit it," he said. "I was looking for a curve ball on the first pitch, and I just swung as hard as I can. Luckily it got out."
UNM head coach Rich Alday said he is happy for Barba.
"Hopefully he can keep this up for us," Alday said.
The other star of the game for UNM was Eddy, who pitched a complete game seven-hitter.
Eddy's miscues came in the third, when he gave up a one-run homer to Brian Adams and then threw the ball past the catcher to allow a second runner to score.
He locked down hard after that. Eddy faced just three batters in each of the fourth and fifth innings, induced big double plays to shut down any scoring chances and got through a fairly easy sixth before really turning it on.
In the seventh and eighth innings, Eddy pitched perfectly. He retired the side in each inning with a total of just 14 pitches. Eddy gave up a solo homer in the ninth, but by then it didn't matter.
In essence, he was his own starter, set-up man and closer.
"I felt stronger as the game went on," Eddy said. "The cutter was a money pitch for me, and I just felt really good out there today."
The Lobos had dropped two straight heading into Sunday after a losing pair of one-run games in a double-header the day before.
It was the Lobos' first home win of the season and the program's first win at Isotopes Park.
