Florida outfielder Kyle Jones (3) taps his helmet with his teammates to celebrate a homerun during their game against Florida International University at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla., Wednesday, February 25, 2026. (Libby Clifton/WRUF)

Florida Baseball Starts Arkansas Series with 9-4 Win

After the last two conference series, the Gators (21-6, 4-3 SEC) finally sent the message to the nation: don’t count us out.

Florida beat No. 4 Arkansas, 9-4, at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, and, for the first time in nearly a week, the Gators finally have an identity in the SEC: winners.

Entering this weekend, Florida struggled to find motivation against Alabama. With two back-to-back ranked wins now under its belt, it’s safe to say coach Kevin O’Sullivan doesn’t need to bring out the pom-poms. This team is winning without middle-aged Dazzlers re-enactments.

“Pleased with how we battled,” O’Sullivan said. “We had some adversity. We had to make some big pitches at certain times.”

Despite Florida’s first three hitters — Kyle Jones, Brendan Lawson and Cade Kurland — hitting a collective 1-for-11, the Gators performed well against the Razorbacks (19-8, 4-3). The team was bolstered by the middle of the lineup, with Blake Cyr and Karson Bowen tying for a team-high three hits.

While Florida led the game in most offensive stats, it was particularly great with runners in scoring position (.800) and when bases were loaded (.667).

Sure, the Ethan Suroweic (his fourth) and the Bowen (his third) homers propelled the team’s batting averages up. But fundamentally, the Gators took advantage of small-ball opportunities to drive the score out of Arkansas’ reach. Colton Schwartz began the scoring with an RBI walk in the first. Cash Strayer lined an RBI single in the ninth, followed by Cole Sanford’s single soon after, which scored two.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we did, and we did it on the road, which we didn’t do last weekend,” O’Sullivan said.

Florida’s batting was even enough to outlast the pitching woes. Starter Liam Peterson only went four innings, and his command still hampered the ace, who struggled to keep his pitch count down. He surrendered almost as many walks, six, a career-high, as strikeouts (7) in the 91 pitches thrown. However, Peterson only gave up one hit.

The same cannot be said for Florida’s bullpen. The reliever core gave up four earned runs across five innings. Given that five Arkansas batters have at least a .300 batting average this season, it’s still a win, though one that should come with an asterisk attached.

Ernesto Lugo-Canchola (W, 1-0) and Joshua Whritenour (S) seemed to find their footing against one of the best teams in the nation. More surprisingly, however, was the appearance of Sunday starter Cooper Walls in a bullpen role. He pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs. Wall’s appearance here could signal two possible Florida thought processes:

First, Walls might fill a bullpen role moving forward. He’s had mixed success and elicits consistent contact on his pitches, so it might be more useful for the Gators to let opposing batters see him less. That way, his pitches are less readable, especially when he’s facing the lineup for the second or third time around.

Second, O’Sullivan might have pushed all his bets into winning tonight’s game to get a step up in this series. Every win counts, especially against the nation’s top-10 teams. With Aidan King (3-2, 1.27 ERA) on the mound Saturday with a 2 p.m. start, Florida has a realistic chance to clinch two out of three games by Sunday. In that case, Walls is more important in Friday’s game than in the final one.

“It was a difficult game to kind of piece together, because we went into Tuesday night (win vs. FSU) really thinking it was a must-win coming off the Alabama weekend,” O’Sullivan said. “That’s why we went with Cooper there.”

Either way, Florida’s pitching (and the managerial decisions) proved effective. Arkansas collectively batted .156, and a measly .167 with runners in scoring position. The Razorbacks are expected to start lefty Hunter Dietz (2-2, 3.86).

As Florida gears up for an afternoon game Saturday (SEC Network+, 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF), it cannot keep its foot off the gas. Florida hasn’t won in Fayetteville since 2016, and historically, the home team in this matchup has won the last five series since 2018. The Gators need consistency to be a threat in the conference, not one-off, pat-your-back wins.

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