FAYETTEVILLE — Heston Kjerstad has hit his fair share of monster home runs and the one he hit Tuesday night ranks up there with the best of them.

With the bases loaded in the fourth, the sophomore slugger hit a fastball over the middle of the plate for his first career grand slam. That gave Arkansas its first lead of the night, helping it to a 15-8 win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday.

Not only did Kjerstad hit it, but he crushed it over the 40-foot tall scoreboard in right field. According to the UA’s TrackMan, the ball traveled 407 feet with an exit velocity of 106 miles per hour and launch angle of 39 degrees.

“He kept his hands inside the ball,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It was a little inside and it was one of those balls that, the way the ball was carrying tonight, we knew it was going to leave the yard.”

It ended up being the first of three four-run innings by the Razorbacks. The offensive explosion was needed because the Golden Eagles managed to regain the lead in the fifth.

Instead of collapsing like it did last week against UALR, Arkansas threw a counter punch. Curtis Washington Jr. tied it back up with an RBI double and a wild pitch brought home the go-ahead run, giving the Razorbacks a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

When the dust settled, Arkansas had pounded out 14 hits and drawn 13 walks to match a season high of 15 runs, putting the game out of reach.

“Really what created the (big) innings, we fouled off a lot of pitches and forced some walks,” Van Horn said. “That’s kind of how you put crooked numbers up - when they make an error and walk you - because it’s hard to get that many hits, but they walk one or two and then you pop one and you score quick and that’s what we did tonight.”

Included in that onslaught was another home run by Kjerstad, this time a solo shot in the eighth inning. It had enough backspin to carry out of the ballpark to left-center field, showcasing his opposite-field power.

“It was good to see him drive that the ball the other way, center, left-center,” Van Horn said. “I feel when he’s swinging it good that’s where he hits the ball a little bit.”

Kjerstad now has a team-high nine home runs, which is three more than Jack Kenley and Casey Martin. Four of the long balls have come in the last four games, including the go-ahead homer in Arkansas’ 15-inning win at Auburn.

With the five RBIs, he also caught Christian Franklin for the team lead, as both players have 27.

“I feel pretty good,” Kjerstad said. “It’s the middle of the season and I have a lot of at bats under the belt, so I’m feeling pretty good and driving the balls that are left over the middle of the plate and just seeing the ball well.”

The Razorbacks hit the road for another SEC road test this weekend, traveling to No. 7 Vanderbilt for a three-game series beginning at 7 p.m. Friday.

Martin’s Day

The multi-homer day for Kjerstad may have stolen the show, but Martin also had a very good day at the plate. Trying to dig himself out of a season-long slump, he went 4 for 5 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI and three runs.

Martin actually struck out in his first at bat before bouncing back with a hard-hit double to the right-center gap in the third inning, leading to the Razorbacks’ first run of the game.

“The first pitcher they threw didn’t throw very hard, so our approach was try to stay through the middle and go the other way,” Van Horn said. “Martin was one we really talked to about it and he did a nice job.”

That was the last time he got to face Oral Roberts starter Caleb Lee, but the double seemed to breath some confidence into Martin.

He drew a walk the next inning and hit an RBI single in the fifth before ripping another double down the left field line in the seventh. He ended his night with an eighth-inning single.

Plate discipline was the key to Martin’s success Tuesday, as he laid off the inside pitches from left-handers and waited for them to throw him outside, which they inevitably did and he made them pay.

“He took more pitches tonight than I had seen him take in awhile,” Van Horn said. “Instead of just swinging, he took it. Might have been a strike, might have been a ball, but he still had another pitch or two to work with.”

Although he recently moved out of the leadoff spot and into the three-hole, Martin said the biggest change for his is really focusing on the approach he’s been working on with hitting coach Nate Thompson.

“I was thinking more right-center gap - turn into the ball, let it get deep and hit it to the right side,” Martin said. “If you do that, it allows you to deepen it up a little bit and come right back into my bat path, so I’m not pulling balls foul. Instead, I’m hitting them between the lines, whether it’s left field or right or in the gaps.”

The result was the first four-hit game of Martin’s career, which raised his batting average 19 points to .269 for the season.

Lineup Shuffle

As he usually does for midweek games, especially later in the season, Van Horn made a few tweaks to his lineup to give other players an opportunity to play.

The most notable changes were inserting Jordan McFarland at first base and Washington in left field. That prompted Trevor Ezell to move to second and Kenley to move to third, while allowing Franklin and Jacob Nesbit to start the game on the bench.

It was McFarland’s second start of the year at the position and his struggles continued with two strikeouts in his first two plate appearances before drawing a walk to lead off the fifth. He now has 13 strikeouts in 32 at bats, lowing his batting average to .125.

Nesbit was eventually inserted into the game in the top of the sixth, allowing Kenley and Ezell to move back to their usual positions of second and first base, respectively, and ending McFarland’s night.

Unlike the only other time he started at second - back on March 12 against Western Illinois - Ezell did not have to make any plays at the position to test out his shoulder, which is still recovering from offseason surgery.

Instead, the ball seemingly found Washington in left. Making his second career start, it appeared he had a chance to catch a deep fly by Trevor McCutchin, but he missed it and it bounced off the wall for an RBI triple that scored the game’s first run.

“We thought it was a routine fly ball,” Van Horn said. “It just kept going and going and kind of fooled our outfielder a little bit.”

Washington ended up catching five fly balls or line drives in the game’s first 11 outs and added one more in the eighth.

For Kenley, it was his first start of the season at third base, but he’s familiar with the position because he started there 12 times over the last two years. Tuesday also marked the first time Nesbit hasn’t been in the starting lineup.

The Razorbacks also used their backup catcher in Zack Plunkett. It wasn’t as unusual of a switch because he’s started six midweek games this season, as well as Game 2 of all three doubleheaders.

Although he eventually replaced Plunkett as a pinch runner in the fifth, Casey Opitz has started only two-thirds of the games this season. That is much lower than the 91.0 percent of games Grant Koch started behind the plate over the last two seasons.

Cowboy’s Return

Sporting a large beard and long hair, Hunter Wilson returned to Baum-Walker Stadium - where he played for two seasons with the Razorbacks - as Oral Roberts’ starting second baseman.

Beloved by teammates and fans alike, he was greeted hugs from Van Horn and several Arkansas player during pregame warmups and a nice ovation from the fans before the crowd. He acknowledged the love by tipping his helmet to the fans.

The UA marketing department also played his old walk-up song - “Cowboy” by Kid Rock - and showed a graphic of a cowboy tipping his hat on the scoreboard, an homage to his nickname with the Razorbacks, “Cowboy.”

Even after hitting a two-run home run that pulled Oral Roberts within three runs in the eighth inning and flipping his bat, several fans still gave him a standing ovation as he crossed the plate.

“He was here last year and helped us get back to the World Series, did his part,” Kjerstad said. “I think it’s great for the kid that fans still show their appreciation for what he did here.”

Following the game, Wilson was the last guy to go through the handshake line and he hugged each player. Martin had plenty of chances to talk to him before that, though, because of the doubles he hit.

The encounters at second base sound about like you’d expect when it comes to the eccentric infielder.

“I think the first thing he said to me was, ‘Man, smelling y’all’s detergent really makes me miss it,’” Martin said. “It’s kind of weird, but he definitely misses us, I know that.”

Including a fifth-inning single, Wilson finished the game 2 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs, raising his batting average to .308 on the season. His eighth-inning blast was his second home run of the season, which is twice as many as he hit in two years with the Razorbacks.

Van Horn seemed genuinely happy for Wilson, cracking a big smile when asked about him after the game.

“He’s getting to do what he wanted to do,” Van Horn said. “He’s getting to play every day. That was the issue here. I couldn’t promise him he could play every day.”

Other Tidbits

~Playing in perfect weather with the warmest temperatures of the season, Tuesday’s game had a paid attendance of 8,723. The “tickets scanned” number was 4,360.

~Dating back to 2009, Arkansas has now won 10 straight games against Oral Roberts, its longest winning streak in the series. The previous record was nine straight between 1984-1987. The Razorbacks are now 70-35 all-time against the Golden Eagles.

~Matt Goodheart’s hot streak since getting new contacts continued Tuesday, as he went 2 for 4 and hit his first home run at Arkansas. It was a three-run blast that also gave him his 10th multi-hit game in the last 16 games in which he’s played. Over that span, Goodheart is hitting .439/.529/.596, compared to just .241/.290/.276 before the eye doctor visit.

~In his last three starts, Plunkett is just 0 for 1 in nine plate appearances. He has walked seven times - including three against Oral Roberts - and was hit by a pitch. That gives him an impressive .488 on-base percentage despite a not-so-good .231 batting average.

~With an eighth-inning single, Nesbit has now reached base safely in 31 of 33 games this season.

~McCutchin was a true utility player for the Golden Eagles. He started the game as their designated hitter, but eventually came in to pitch 2/3 of an inning before also playing right field - twice - and first base.

~Interestingly, he was one of three players in Oral Roberts’ starting lineup who pitched in the game. The others were first baseman Spencer Henson and right fielder Hunter Swift. That doesn’t even include third baseman Isaac Coffey, who has been a weekend starter.

BOX SCORE

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