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After squeezing by an undefeated midweek, the Florida Gators face their toughest challenge of the year so far against the Miami Hurricanes.

“It’s always a great series,” Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan said.

No. 8 Florida (9-0) is set to take on Miami (8-1) this weekend. Here’s three keys to the Gators getting the win against their in-state rivals:

Starters get deep

O’Sullivan mentioned last weekend he’d like to see his starters get deeper into games before he has to call upon a bullpen arm. This weekend, he’ll try a potential solution — splitting his righties, Liam Peterson and Jake Clemente, by throwing Pierce Coppola out for the Saturday rest.

If anything, this might be most helpful for Clemente, who O’Sullivan noted was having some mechanical and command issues in his last outing. Maybe the extra day’s rest will give him the chance to fix things.

Beating Bobby

If we’re being honest, the Gators haven’t exactly gone up against the most elite bats so far. This weekend against the Canes’ lineup will be their toughest challenge yet by far. The name O’Sullivan and the Gators probably have circled in red is Bobby Marsh.

Simply put, Marsh is producing for the ‘Canes right now. He’s played in all eight games so far for Miami, batting .296 and putting up a team-high 15 RBIs. The Hurricanes will be relying on Marsh to come through this weekend while Florida will do whatever it can to prevent such a thing.

Sunday slugging

Again — Florida hasn’t played much competition so far. The first weekend’s sweep was dominant, making the second sweep a forgone conclusion. But there’s no guarantee this weekend. The Gators could find themselves playing for the series, or worse, a consolation win, when they wake up on Sunday.

It doesn’t help that Miami’s Sunday starter, Brian Walters, has been simply dominant closing out weekends for the ‘Canes through two weeks of the season. He’s got a 2-0 record and a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings pitched with 19 strikeouts to go along with it. Last week against Princeton, he tossed six shutout innings before being relieved ahead of the seventh.

“They’ve got three really outstanding starters,” O’Sullivan said.

If Florida’s playing to win on Sunday, it’ll need to play with intentions of blowing up Walters’ start.

First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Condron Family Ballpark and will stream on ESPN SEC Network+.