FAYETTEVILLE — Down to the last three outs, Dave Van Horn took a different approach than he did the inning before Sunday afternoon.

Instead of talking to his team like he did after their one-run lead turned into a one-run deficit in the eighth, the 17th-year head coach stood off to the side of the dugout and just observed.

Thinking he might see a teaching moment for after the game, Van Horn was pleased to see the players talking amongst themselves. So he wasn’t surprised when the Razorbacks tied it up and then beat No. 20 Tennessee 4-3 in the 10th inning to complete a sweep.

“This team is pretty much fearless,” Van Horn said. “They just play and they think they can win. They don’t really care how far they’re down. If they’ve got some at bats left, they feel like they can come back.”

With one out in the ninth, Arkansas’ nine-hole hitter, Christian Franklin, provided the big swing it needed. He hit a 2-1 fastball that just stayed far and barely cleared the wall in the right field corner.

All but one of his five home runs this season have been to the opposite field, but this one had to compete with a strong wind blowing in from that direction.

“When it left the bat, we knew it wasn’t going to be caught, we just didn’t know if it was going to quite get it over the fence when the wind was blowing, but he kept it low enough and really drove it,” Van Horn said. “He stays through the ball really well the other way.”

That tied the game and got the momentum back in the Razorbacks’ dugout. Never one to hide his emotions have a long ball, Franklin was clearly fired up as he rounded the bases and went back into the dugout.

“My blood was rushing really fast,” Franklin said. “I didn’t have any control over what I was saying. I went into the dugout screaming ‘Let’s go!’ to my teammates.”

The Volunteers went down in order in the top of the 10th, so Arkansas had a chance to win it in the home half of the inning.

Heston Kjerstad was hit by a pitch to put the winning run on base and a one-out single by Jack Kenley moved pinch runner Curtis Washington Jr. into scoring position. However, a fielder’s choice ground out by Jacob Nesbit gave the Razorbacks two outs.

It was up to Casey Opitz to keep the game from going to the 11th and he delivered with a walk-off double to the left field corner on a 2-0 pitch. Before that hit, the catcher was 0 for 4 on the day and just 1 for 13 in the series.

“He hadn’t had a great series offensively, but he’s got a knack for getting big hits,” Van Horn said. “We kind of sensed that he was going to get it.”

The Razorbacks have now won three games in walk-off fashion this season and Opitz - despite his team-worst .233 batting average - has the last two, as his one-out single in the ninth inning gave them a sweep against Missouri to open SEC play.

He also had the two-run single that capped Arkansas’ five-run ninth inning and proved to be the difference in its 14-12 win over Vanderbilt, which started the current seven-game SEC winning streak.

Those have certainly been critical hits, but Opitz has been just as important to the team’s success with his excellent defense behind the plate and leadership skills.

“Casey Opitz wasn’t selected as our captain and he’s one of our captains,” Van Horn said. “That’s the way I feel about it. I’d tell you every coach does, too, and I think probably 90 percent of the players feel that way, that he’s our captain, one of them for sure.”

Kjerstad provided the game-winning hits in the other two games Arkansas won in the final inning, as he hit a walk-off single to cap a season-opening sweep over Eastern Illinois and hit the go-ahead home run in the 15-inning win at Auburn.

Sunday’s win improved the Razorbacks to 34-11 overall and 15-6 in SEC play, which is two games ahead of LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss in the SEC West and tied with Vanderbilt atop the overall standings.

With a 10-game lead over last-place teams South Carolina, Kentucky and Alabama and only nine games remaining, Arkansas and Vanderbilt have also become the first two teams to clinch a spot in the SEC Tournament.

Van Horn likes the spot they’re in with three weekends left, but said is isn’t looking at the big picture yet. His sole focus is on the midweek matchup with Grambling State at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock and the weekend series at Kentucky.

“I feel great about it because you’ve got to take the wins when you can get them,” Van Horn said. “You never know when it’s going to flip on you. … The game isn’t always fair.

“You can make pitches and you don’t get a call. You can hit the ball on the nose and it goes right at somebody, so whenever you need a chance to win a game, you need to win it. Fortunately, we came back and won today.”

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