LINCOLN, Neb. — The loud hits kept coming for Arkansas enough to overcome Nebraska’s soft ones.

The Razorbacks hit two early home runs and Ryan Cisterna added the game-winning, two-run shot in the eighth as Arkansas rallied past Nebraska 9-4 on Wednesday and earn a split of a two-game series at Haymarket Park.

Arkansas (13-6 ) had struggled coming into the game, having lost five of its previous six, and watched as the Cornhuskers (15-3 ) built a 3-1 lead going into the fifth by scoring off a squeeze bunt, a lazy bloop single to right field and a hitby-pitch.

Staring at another loss heading to LSU for a pivotal series this weekend, the Razorbacks tied it in the top of the seventh with an RBI double by Andy Wilkins, then broke out with a six-run eighth inning for a 9-3 lead.

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Catcher Ryan Cisterna, batting just. 167, broke the 3-3 tie with his two-run home run off Mike Nesseth (2-1 ) that went just beyond the grass berm in left field. Cisterna has only 9 hits in 52 at-bats this season, but 4 have been home runs.

“That’s not good, is it ?” Cisterna said of his all-or-nothing results at the plate.

Not that it mattered Wednesday. His blast gave Arkansas its first lead in almost three full games, since the seventh inning of Saturday’s game against Georgia at Baum Stadium.

“It was a huge momentum changer,” Cisterna said. “It was a good pitch to hit, and we kind of got something going and we kept going. Each guy kept getting the job done.”

Following Cisterna’s home run, the next five Razorbacks reached safely, topped by RBI extra-base hits by Chase Leavitt, Brett Eibner (a triple ) and Logan Forsythe. Another run came home on a failed pickoff attempt.

Forsythe’s run-scoring double, a shallow fly ball that dropped in front of diving center fielder Bryce Nimmo, was more typical of the Cornhuskers’ early success and provided some satisfaction for the Razorbacks.

“They did a good job [offensively ],” said Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn, who earned a split against his former team. “They worked the count and got the big two-out hit after the squeeze bunt. Down 2-0, I just told the [players ], ’Let’s try to cut into it, score one here, one there and hang in. ’

“ I thought our pitching did a great job. We pieced it together.”

The Razorbacks got three solid innings from senior Travis Hill in his first start and two innings each from Dallas Keuchel, Stephen Richards (1-0 ) and Eibner.

But it was clutch hitting that rescued the Razorbacks from another defeat and ended the Cornhuskers’ 14-game winning streak. Tim Smalling and Leavitt took advantage of a stiff breeze blowing out to left by hitting home runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Unlike Cisterna’s home run, both balls barely cleared the fence in left.

Arkansas has hit an SECleading 35 home runs this season.

“It wasn’t a good day to face a home run-hitting team with the wind blowing out a bit,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said.

The Razorbacks’ next three games at LSU are far more important in the big picture. But with the way the Huskers were manufacturing runs without hitting many balls hard, and Arkansas’ recent funk showing few signs of letting up, Wednesday’s final three innings were as significant as any this season.

“They did such a good job executing, and we were hitting it hard right at people,” Smalling said. “We stuck to our approach and it paid off at the end.”