ChompTalk.com

For the first time in nearly a month, if not more, fans at Condron Family Ballpark — and the players in the home dugout — showed signs of life.

The cause? complete team performance against the toughest opponent left on the Florida Gators schedule. The result? A serious turning point for a playoff-desperate team that’s already getting hot.

Florida (29-15, 7-12 SEC) RESULT No. 5 Arkansas (36-8, 13-6 SEC) 6-4 in the weekend opener. Gators ace Liam Peterson posted a career-high 13 strikeouts in a 114-pitch outing.

“It was really fun.,” said Peterson. “That team is really good. To be able to do that and get a win, it’s a lot of fun to play on this team right now.”

Arkansas leading slugger started things off with a bang for the Hogs. He turned on a 96 mph fastball and sent it 411 feet into right field for the opening run. Peterson would punch three outs to turn the initial inning over to Florida’s bats. Arkansas lefty Zach Root struck out the side to keep it 1-0 after the first.

Peterson gave up a second bomb to start the second inning, this time an opposite field jack from Cam Kozeal. Florida went down in order through the bottom frame to keep it a 2-0 deficit.

Second baseman Justin Nadeau legged a two-out single in the bottom third inning. Root sailed a pickoff attempt over Kozeal’s head and allowed the Jacksonville transfer to reach home safely after a mad dash around the bases. Florida couldn’t tack on another and trailed 2-1 through the opening third.

Peterson fanned away the top fourth, tying his career high with 11 strikeouts. In the bottom frame, Florida’s bats woke up. A leadoff walk by Colby Shelton and a pair of singles from Brendan Lawson and Blake Cyr brought around the tying run. Root would load the bases on a pitch clock violation, but folded Ashton Wilson to break the jam.

Arkansas opted to swap pitchers in the bottom fifth due to the Gators plating the leading run on a Lawson RBI single with one out in the bottom fifth. Luke Heyman, who’s been a force for the Gators in conference play, kept it rolling regardless. The catcher cleared the bases on a 3-run shot for the lead.

“I was just sitting heater and got the pitch I was going to do damage to,” Heyman said.

Peterson inherited a 6-2 leaded in the sixth. He punched out the side, recording a career-high 13th strikeout on the night. He’d go back out for the seventh 105 pitches into his outing. After walking the leadoff batter, Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan ended his night and brought in reliever Luke McNeillie.

The righty picked up an out before giving up a 2-run bomb, prompting O’Sullivan to pull the plug in favor of former Sunday starter Jake Clemente. He got out of it, and the Gators led 6-4 into the bottom frame.

Clemente returned to the hill for the ninth seeking a save. He got the job done, and set up the Gators to take a huge series win Saturday.

“Everybody knows how important these games are down the stretch,” O’Sullivan said. “Long way to go in the weekend… but certainly, this one was a big one.”

Florida takes on Arkansas at 3 p.m. Saturday on ESPN SEC Network.