FAYETTEVILLE — Knotted in a tie game Sunday, Arkansas knew it had to do something, anything to avoid being swept at home by Alabama.

Flashing the steal sign for third base proved to be the right move.

Sean Jones stole third base and continued home on a throwing error in the eighth inning to give Arkansas a 5-4 victory over the Tide before 6, 426 at Baum Stadium. Alabama had one more chance in the ninth, but Stephen Richards ended the game by striking out Matt Bentley with a runner on first base.

Arkansas (28-20, 10-13 ) desperately needed the victory on a day when the Razorbacks honored former longtime public address announcer Larry Shank, who died last July of cancer. Alabama (28-22, 12-12 ) took the first two games and a defeat would have dropped Arkansas deeper in the overall SEC standings.

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Arkansas now stands in ninth place overall, one-half game behind Kentucky and Tennessee. The top eight teams will advance to the SEC Tournament that begins May 21 at Hoover, Alabama.

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said his players had a sense of urgency Sunday after being pounded 11-7 and 11-6 by Alabama in the first two games.

“There were probably a lot of teams across the league hoping we’d get beat and they could say ‘bye-bye’ to Arkansas,” Van Horn said. “But we’re still here. We knew we had to win.”

Ross Wilson and Alex Kubal hit home runs for Alabama, which connected for eight home runs in the series. But it was aggressive baserunning by Arkansas which decided Sunday’s game.

The Razorbacks were in danger of wasting Casey Coon’s leadoff double in the eighth inning when Tim Smalling grounded out and Brett Eibner struck out swinging against reliever Austin Graham. But Van Horn had Jones running on the play and he was able to pick himself up and head home after the throw from catcher Kyle Moore sailed into left field.

Jones is one of Arkansas’ best baserunners and he moved to 6-for-6 in stolen bases this season.

“In my mind, I knew I had to do something to get [Jones ] over,” Van Horn said of the called steal for third. “It was a late steal sign and Sean got a great jump and the catcher panicked a bit. I knew the ball was going to left field after it left his hand, and I was screaming for Sean to get up and get in there [at home ].”

Arkansas’ work was far from finished as Alabama sent up its third, fourth and fifth hitters in the ninth. Mike Bolsinger was able to retire Brandon May, who hit two home runs in Saturday’s victory over Arkansas. The call then went to the bullpen, where the left-hander Richards was brought in to face left-handed hitting Alex Avila, who also had a home run in the series. Richards fell behind 3-0 on the count before getting Vila on a fly ball to center field.

Alabama stayed alive on a twoout single by Kent Matthes, which brought Bentley and his 10 home runs on the season to the plate. Richards got ahead on the count and struck out Bentley on a 1-2 pitch in the dirt to end the game.

“I didn’t want to blow it for Bolsinger because he pitched his tail off,” Richards aid. “I gave our team a little scare after giving up a hit but, luckily, I was able to get the next two guys and we won the game.”

Arkansas will have all week to prepare to face the Gamecocks on Friday at Baum Stadium. The Razorbacks will then play Mississippi Valley State in a makeup game on May 12 before ending the regular season at Mississippi State.

“Getting some rest this week will be huge for us,” Logan Forsythe said. “We don’t have to get focused in on a midweek game and we can go straight into the South Carolina game after a couple of days off. That’s where our focus needs to be.”