Bowen Leads Charge for Florida in Game One Win at No. 4 Arkansas

Friday, March 27

Fayetteville, Ark.

7 PM

Florida Gators

21-6, 4-3

Arkansas

19-8, 4-3

Florida

Arkansas

UAA Communications photo by Nick Stone

Bowen Leads Charge for Florida in Game One Win at No. 4 Arkansas

Friday, March 27, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Catcher Karson Bowen went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and Liam Peterson tossed four scoreless frames.

By: Sullivan Bortner

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Florida opened a three-run edge in the second inning and never relinquished the lead, defeating No. 4 Arkansas by a final score of 9-4 in the series opener at Baum-Walker Stadium on Friday night.

Leading the charge for the Gators (21-6, 4-3 SEC) in the win over the Razorbacks (19-8, 4-3 SEC) was catcher Karson Bowen (3-for-5), who smacked three hits and drove in two on a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Left fielder Blake Cyr (3-for-4) matched him with three hits including one double and also scored one run.

As a result, Florida is in position to claim its first series win at Baum-Walker stadium since sweeping Arkansas during the 2016 season. The Gators' victory on Friday night tied the all-time series at 39-39.

Florida put its first two men on in the top of the first, as Kyle Jones drew a walk and promptly swiped second base before Brendan Lawson was hit by a pitch. The potential rally fizzled there, as a 5-3 double play ball and groundout to third base left one Gator stranded in the frame. UF starter Liam Peterson matched Arkansas hurler Gabe Gaeckle with a scoreless first inning, fanning a pair of Razorbacks to leave two stranded on the bases.

Any inkling of a pitchers' duel was thwarted in the top of the second, as the Gators chased Gaeckle with one out and the bases loaded for reliever Cole Gibler. Cyr lined a single to left to get it started, then stole second base. Three-consecutive walks to Cash Strayer, Cole Stanford and Colton Schwarz forced home Cyr for first blood as well as Gaeckle's departure. A wild pitch then allowed Strayer to scamper home safely while Stanford scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Jones, giving Florida a 3-0 advantage heading into the home half of the second.

Peterson held the momentum, navigating around a leadoff double by retiring the next three Razorbacks in order to send the matchup into the third inning. The UF bats kept it rolling, as Ethan Surowiec drilled a two-out, solo home run to right field on a full count to extend the lead to 4-0 in the top of the third. The Gators proceeded to load up the bases on Cyr's second knock followed by a walk and hit batter, but the bases were left stranded as Schwarz grounded out to second base.

In the bottom of the third, Peterson fanned two more Razorbacks while working around a pair of two-out free passes to produce a zero. The UF ace ran into trouble in the fourth after issuing back-to-back walks to open the frame, but buckled down for three-straight outs by using strikeouts number six and seven to strand Razorbacks at the corners.

Peterson was relieved by southpaw Ernesto Lugo-Canchola in the bottom of the fifth, as the former used 91 pitches to complete the first four frames. Arkansas struck swiftly upon Peterson's removal, as a leadoff walk followed by a two-run homer to right-center off the bat of Ryder Helfrick cut the UF lead in half at 4-2.

Lugo-Canchola rebounded in the home half of the sixth, working a clean inning while fanning consecutive Hogs for the final two outs. Florida then tacked on two more runs to extend its edge to 6-2 in top-seven, as Lawson drew a leadoff walk and came home on a two-run shot to left field by Bowen.

Right-hander Cooper Walls took over for Lugo-Canchola in the bottom of the seventh. The sophomore fanned leadoff man Damian Ruiz en route to retiring the side in order.

In the home half of the eighth, the Razorbacks crept closer with two runs to make it a 6-4 ballgame. With two outs, Carter Rutenbar and Reese Robinett hit back-to-back RBI doubles to left and right field, respectively. That prompted the Gators to turn to closer Joshua Whritenour, who quickly fanned Maika Niu on three pitches to limit the damage.

Florida cashed in some much-needed insurance in the top of the ninth, plating three runs to extend its lead to 9-4. With the bags juiced, Strayer flared an RBI single to left, followed by a two-run single to left off the bat of Stanford.

Whritenour remained on the bump to close it out, striking out the side in order on just 13 pitches to cement his third save of the season. The UF closer fanned all four batters he faced on 16 pitches to complete 1 1/3 perfect frames.

Lugo-Canchola (1-0) earned his first victory in Orange & Blue, throwing two frames with two earned runs allowed on one hit and one walk.

Gaeckle (3-2) suffered the loss. The junior right-hander lasted just 1 1/3 innings while being charged with three earned runs on one hit and four walks.

Peterson did not qualify for the decision after pitching four shutout frames. He allowed just one hit while striking out seven against six walks.

NOTABLES

The Gators produced their largest win in Fayetteville, Ark. since April 16, 2016 (W, 8-2).
Florida has won back-to-back games in Fayetteville for the first time since 2016.
Florida is 18-7 across its last 25 SEC games dating back to last season.
Florida improved to 5-0 against ranked teams this season, including 2-0 vs. the top 10.
Despite walking a career-high six batters, Peterson allowed just one hit and struck out seven to complete four shutout innings.
Peterson did not allow more than one hit through four innings for the fourth time in his last five starts.
Jones stole his team-leading 12th bag in the first inning.
Surowiec launched his fourth homer of the season in the third inning.
Bowen swatted his third homer of the campaign in the seventh frame.
Walls made his first relief appearance of the season.
Whritenour struck out all four batters he faced to log his third save of the campaign.
The Gators have won 38 of their last 48 regular-season games dating back to 2025.
Florida is now 39-39 all-time and 13-18 in Fayetteville against Arkansas.
The Gators are 21-25 overall and 6-10 on the road vs. the Razorbacks under Head Coach Kevin O'Sullivan.
Florida has won seven of the last 10 including three of five against Arkansas.
Friday night's official attendance was 9,837.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
On getting the win in a tough road environment…
"It was a difficult game to kind of piece together, because we went into Tuesday night really thinking it was a must-win coming off the Alabama weekend. We used Sandefer, McNeillie and Barberi, so those guys were not available tonight. So, that's why we went with Cooper there… I thought Ernie came in and did a nice job. I think the turning point in the game was Liam, when he struck out the last two guys in the fourth. I think that was a huge momentum swing for us. And Josh Whritenour was outstanding…"

On showing resiliency tonight…
"Just pleased with how we battled. We had some adversity. We had to make some big pitches at certain times. It wasn't pretty, but we did, and we did it on the road, which we didn't do last weekend. And then obviously, we had some big at bats during the game. And they kind of shut our bats down a little bit. But, Gibler has been their guy out of the pen, so he'll probably be done for the weekend now. And we saw Eaves, their other key reliever out of the pen tonight. So, we've got to battle. We've got our hands full with the next two starters…"

ON DECK
The Gators and Razorbacks meet again in game two on Saturday, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Sophomore righty Aidan King (3-2, 1.27 ERA) will toe the slab for the Orange & Blue against southpaw Hunter Dietz (2-2, 3.86 ERA) of Arkansas.