FAYETTEVILLE - Maybe Arkansas pitcher Justin Wells and his teammates finally got what they deserved.

When Ben Tschepikow belly-flopped across home plate with the winning run in the 10th inning, the Razorbacks danced off the field with a 5-4 win against Tennessee in front of 8,070 delirious fans in Baum Stadium on Saturday.

That gave Arkansas its second-straight series win and kept its postseason hopes alive for another day.

In a season filled with heartbreaking loses and plain bad luck, maybe Arkansas finally proved it deserved to win a close one.

And Wells was a big part of it, even though he didn't get the decision.

Still, he pitched a career-high nine innings, allowed four runs, scattered 8 hits, struck out a career-high 9 batters while throwing an eye-popping and career-high 135 pitches.

In other words, he gave his team a chance.

"Man, it's been ... as you can see, early on, we haven't got a single break all year long," Wells said. "For example, guys hitting balls in the gap and guys snow-cone catching them. Usually they don't snow-cone catch them. Stuff like that has been going on all year long.

"What a time to finally get a break. We come out today and it was awesome. There wasn't a letdown. What a great job by (Razorbacks catcher) Ryan Cisterna, offensively and behind the plate, he called a great game. He did a heckuva job. He's my MVP."

Cisterna clobbered two home runs, including a two-run blast to straight-away center field in the seventh to put Arkansas in front 4-3.

In the process, he also helped keep Wells in the game.

"This guy is a competitor, man," Cisterna said. "He freaking went out there and competed. Inning by inning, he kept getting better and better. It was awesome. He was fun to catch.

"I have confidence in that kid."

Wells didn't realize his career numbers were growing with every pitch. For the record, it was his longest outing since going 7 1/3 innings with 7 strikeouts against Vanderbilt on the road on March 30.

"I don't keep up with that," Wells said. "I just come out and try and get us the win."

Though happy with his team's most recent success, Wells and his teammates aren't satisfied with the weekend outcome - yet.

"It's good to have the series win, but we're going to come to play tomorrow (today), I promise you," Wells said. "There's no doubt about it in my mind.

"We're going for the sweep."

And maybe the Razorbacks finally deserve it.