FAYETTEVILLE — Alabama used some key two-out hits and standout relief pitching from Jimmy Nelson on Friday to grab the series lead over Arkansas.

Kent Matthes hit a home run and tied a career high with five RBI to lead the Tide to an 11-7 victory before 6, 974 at Baum Stadium. Logan Forsythe hit a long, two-run home run to give Arkansas a 4-1 lead, but the Razorbacks couldn’t hold on to it. Alabama took the lead for good with six runs in the fourth inning, and Nelson (3-2 ) held Ar-1 kansas to one run in 4 / 3 innings to complete the victory. Alabama (27-21, 11-11 ) is trying for its third consecutive SEC series victory, while Arkansas (27-19, 9-12 ) needs to win the next two games to complete its fourth consecutive SEC series victory. “[Nelson ] put us in a position where we could win this game,” Alabama Coach Jim Wells said. “He has one of the better arms on our team, and we continue to run him out there. He struggled early in the year, but he’s shown some signs of life here lately.” Both teams finished with 14 hits, but Alabama had the key blows by scoring nine runs and driving in eight with two outs. Matthes went 3 for 4 to lead Alabama, while Casey Coon finished 3 for 4 to lead Arkansas. “Give credit to their hitters,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “They got a lot of two-out hits, then their big right-hander [Nelson ] came in and settled the game down.” Friday’s game was left to the team’s respective bullpens after both starters were knocked out 2 after 3 / 3 innings. Alabama drove Dallas Keuchel away with some key two-out hits in the third and fourth innings. Keuchel recorded two quick outs in the third before Brandon May lined a double and scored on a single by Matthes.

Alabama then turned the game in its favor in the fourth inning when five consecutive batters reached base after two outs. Josh Rutledge had an RBI single and Ross Wilson an RBI double to chase Keuchel. Following an error by Ben Tschepikow, Alabama continued its assault on reliever Travis Hill when Matthes hit a three-run home run to give the Tide a 7-4 lead.

“The ball that Ben didn’t come up with was a tough play,” Van Horn said. “But you’ve got to go get somebody out after that. That wasn’t the ball game.” Arkansas tried to recover with two runs in fourth, but the Tide still held an 8-7 lead after five innings. Ryan Cisterna had a double and Tschepikow an RBI single in the fourth, while Chase Leavitt produced an RBI single in the fifth to pull the Razorbacks within a run.

The scoring finally slowed a while with the relief work of Mike Bolsinger and Nelson, who took over for Alabama starter Miers Quigley. Bolsinger pitched two scoreless innings before Alabama added three in the eighth inning to lead 11-7. Nelson held Arkansas to six 1 hits in 4 / 3 innings, then Austin Graham pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fourth save.

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“I was just trying to throw strikes and make guys hit ground balls,” Nelson said. “We didn’t have to use a lot of guys out of the bullpen, so we should have some fresh arms for the rest of the series.

“ It’s really big to get off to a good start with a win.” Arkansas and Alabama will play at 2: 05 p.m. today, with Justin Wells starting for the Razorbacks and Austin Hyatt taking the mound for the Tide.