The UF baseball team spent the entire weekend trying to prove it belongs with the elite teams in the country.
Though they lost two of three, the Gators scored 15 runs in a three-game series against No. 8 Miami while the Hurricanes scored only three more.
Junior pitcher Patrick Keating thinks the team showed that it can hang with the nation's best teams.
"We feel like we can play with anybody," he said Saturday. "We feel like we worked harder than anybody in the off-season getting ready for the season."
It was also the Gators' first road series of the year, something the freshmen needed to get under their belts.
Tuesday and Wednesday night, the Gators go back to playing weaker teams, and they get to play at home.
UF (6-2) takes on Campbell (3-3) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and again at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Fighting Camels, who play in the Atlantic Sun Conference and hail from Buies Creek, N.C., will see a lineup the Gators have not used this season.
Usual center fielder Matt den Dekker will take the mound for his first career start - he did not pitch at all last season. He has started five games at center field this season and has four hits in 19 at-bats.
In eight games, UF has not had the same starting batting order or defensive lineup.
Against Miami on Sunday, Coach Kevin O'Sullivan made the most drastic change of the year - den Dekker became UF's leadoff hitter, second baseman Clayton Pisani moved to seventh in the lineup down from his usual No. 2 spot, freshman Josh Adams, who usually hits sixth or seventh, moved up to second and outfielder Avery Barnes was nowhere to be found.
The shakeup didn't exactly go as planned, with UF scoring only six runs, but O'Sullivan couldn't sit idly by as the Gators lost the first two games to Miami.
"We had to do something," O'Sullivan said. "You know, you can switch the guys around, but the bottom line is it's the same guys. We've got to get better."
UF will likely put Travis Lawler (0-0, 12.27 ERA) on the mound Wednesday for his second start.
COLE GETS SOME LOVE: A Miami fan who retrieved Figueroa's game-winning grand slam ball by climbing over a fence on Sunday went to UF's dugout after the game to get the shortstop to sign the ball.
Figueroa said he had no idea who she was, but she did have an interesting proposition for him.
"She tried to hook me up with her daughter," Figueroa said with a laugh.
ETC. Senior first baseman Brandon McArthur's batting average plummeted from .500 before the Miami series to .286 after Sunday's game. McArthur did not have a hit in the series and went 0 for 5 on Saturday. The team batting average dropped from .356 to .291. … The Gators began the series in Coral Gables with 22 stolen bases on 23 attempts. They ended the series 24 for 25, stealing only two bases all weekend. Both stolen bases came on Saturday, and the Gators likely didn't steal more because the Hurricanes' pitching kept them off the base paths. … Sophomore lefty Tony Davis has made more appearances (six) than anyone on the team, but has faced the fewest batters of anyone who has pitched (nine). Davis usually comes in to get out individual left-handed batters, facing Miami's lefty Yonder Alonso three times over the weekend. Alonso went 0 for 2 with a walk against Davis.
