BATON ROUGE — Arkansas’ rally Saturday from a nine-run deficit against LSU wouldn’t have been possible without Justin Wells.

1 Wells threw 7 / 3 innings in relief to help Arkansas defeat LSU 14-13 and even the series at 1-1. LSU led 9-0 after three innings before Arkansas began its comeback with six runs in the fourth inning. The Razorbacks tied the game with two runs in the ninth and won it on Tim Smalling’s home run in the 10 th. Arkansas never would have made it to that point if not for Wells, who was hit hard initially after taking over for Shaun Seibert in the third but settled down and held LSU scoreless over the last five innings.

Wells allowed seven hits and five runs in earning his first victory.

“LSU was scoring at will, and we needed desperately to stop the bleeding,” Arkansas pitching coach Dave Jorn said. “It took Justin a while to get settled in, but he did the job.

“ He was up in the zone at first and behind in the count. He then dropped his arm a bit and finally started getting some movement with his pitches, and that was the key. I hope he can learn from this and take it out for his next game.”

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Wells said his success came after he changed his delivery to more three-quarters instead of pitching over the top. He was extremely delighted with his performance and said more solid outings are coming for an Arkansas staff searching for some stability. “I think I’ve found something,” Wells said. “There’s not going to be any more searching after this. I know now what I have to do.” Wells had made only eight

ap-1 pearances and pitched only 12 / 3 innings before Saturday. He came to Arkansas from Texarkana (Texas ) Junior College, where he was 14-4 in two seasons as a starter and reliever. Saturday’s performance ensures the junior right-hander will see more work, possibly as a starter. “Anything is possible,” Jorn said. “Justin has a rubbery arm, and he’s kind of durable. After that outing right there, he probably deserves to start.” Whatever his role, Wells said he is happy that Arkansas was able to complete a comeback Saturday.

He remembers how Georgia rallied to take a series from Arkansas last weekend and hopes the Razorbacks can do the same today at LSU.

“They say baseball is not as much a game of momentum as football and basketball, but you saw what happened,” Wells said. “We lost a 10-1 lead against Georgia and it affected us the next few games in the way we played.

“ This is a good win, and hopefully, it’ll send us in the right direction.”