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FAYETTEVILLE — For the third time in his career, Heston Kjerstad sent Arkansas home with a victory in walk-off fashion Sunday afternoon.

Unlike the first two, though, this time the junior slugger hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to break a tie and give the Razorbacks a 5-3 series-clinching win over South Alabama.

After working the count to 2-2, Kjerstad crushed a low inside fastball from Jaguars reliever Noah Michael. With an exit velocity of 104 miles per hour and launch angle of 27 degrees, it was hit just hard enough to get through a stiff wind and over the right field wall - landing 353 feet away between the scoreboard and bullpen.

It was the first walk-off home run of Kjerstad’s career, but he had walk-off singles against Auburn as a freshman in 2018 and Eastern Illinois as a sophomore last year. It also comes seven year to the day after Arkansas' last walk-off home run - a solo shot by Joe Serrano to beat San Diego State in 2013.

“That’s stuff I’ve always thought about as a kid when I’d be in the backyard with my brothers or siblings - bottom of the ninth, you’re the winning run and you hit a home run and it’s a walk-off,” Kjerstad said. “It’s kind of surreal to be in that situation and just a lot of fun to be out there with the guys and celebrate that.”

The only reason Kjerstad got to the plate in the ninth was because Christian Franklin lined a two-out single into left field on the first pitch he saw after a couple of quick outs by Jacob Nesbit and Cole Austin.

That was the Razorbacks’ first hit since the third inning and just their fifth of the game.

“I wasn’t trying to do too much when I got up to the plate, just wanted to get on base and get Kjerstad up to the plate because I knew, honestly, that if he got up to the plate he was going to either get a hit or win it for us,” Franklin said. “When I was on base and he hit it, I was watching it, I didn’t know if it was going to drop or not, I was just praying that it would get over the wall, and then it did.”

Head coach Dave Van Horn had pretty much the same thought process, but he started thinking about it an inning earlier. Robert Moore drew a one-out walk in the eighth with Braydon Webb and Casey Opitz due up next.

Instead of trying to move him into scoring position with a steal, the veteran coach knew that even if Webb and Opitz went down in order - which they did - only one player would need to get on base in the ninth to ensure Kjerstad got to the plate.

“I had an opportunity to maybe steal Moore and try to get him to second, but I just wanted to make sure Heston might have a shot to get up in the ninth,” Van Horn said. “I didn’t want to run us out of that. … Franklin has been our hottest hitter probably all weekend and i was just hoping he could get on base to give Heston a chance.”

After losing five straight, the Razorbacks have now won back-to-back games to improve to 9-5. South Alabama dropped to 8-9 with the loss.

Arkansas will conclude its six-game homestand by welcoming Grand Canyon to Fayetteville for a pair of midweek games. The first game is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, followed by a 3 p.m. start Wednesday.

Both games will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus, meaning they can be watched online on ESPN3.com or on the WatchESPN app.

Have a Day, Franklin

Before delivering that first-pitch single in the ninth, Franklin looked like he might join Kyle Harris in one of the most exclusive clubs in UA history.

He led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple when right fielder Andrew Bates couldn’t make a diving grab and eventually scored on Matt Goodheart’s sacrifice fly. Two innings later, he smacked a 382-foot leadoff home run in the third, taking care of the two hardest parts of hitting for the cycle.

Both of those hits came on sliders that South Alabama starter JoJo Booker left up and over the plate.

However, he flied out to center and grounded out to shortstop in his next two at bats, all but assuring Harris - who accomplished the feat against Tennessee in 1994 - would remain the only Arkansas player to hit for the cycle.

“When we were in the outfield, Kjerstad said something about hitting for the cycle and I told him that he jinxed it, but that was the only person that said anything,” Franklin said. “I try not to worry too much about that type of stuff during the game.”