AUBURN | With No. 12 Auburn short another starter going into this weekend’s series at No. 2 Mississippi State, the bullpen will have to pick up some slack.

And by all appearances the group is up to the task. Led by Elliott Anderson, the Tigers’ relievers are 10-1 with a 1.96 ERA.

“We’ve kind of established our identity as a bullpen,” Anderson said. “It comes down to being good at what you’re good at, and just working, working hard for it every day.”

Anderson, a junior, is 3-0 on the season and 9-0 in his career. He leads the staff with nine appearances and is second with a 0.47 ERA. He’s struck out 24 and issued five walks in 19.0 innings.

The left-hander features a fastball, slider and a splitter he throws as his changeup.

“He’s not a closer. Middle guy for length, he can do that, he can do something short for us. I would just say he’s our competitive moment pitcher right now,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said.

“His delivery is cleaner, he’s picked up two pitches, he’s setting those really well. I just see somebody that’s just thrown it a time or two and just doesn’t get rattled.”

The bullpen is a big reason Auburn will enter the key SEC showdown 19-2 overall, 3-0 in the conference after sweeping No. 21 Tennessee at home last weekend and riding a 14-game winning streak. The Bulldogs are 20-2 and 2-1 in the conference after taking 2 of 3 at No. 14 Florida last weekend.

“You went from the hottest team in America in Tennessee and now you’re playing the best team in America that pretty much already thinking Omaha or bust,” Thompson said. “You’ve got best crowd, best facility … they have arguably the best offense in the SEC and arguably the best pitching staff in the SEC. I guess the only thing we can hang our hat on is we just try to play the game.

“We feel like Tanner Burns is a competitive pitcher. Hopefully, he can figure out a way to get us off to a good start.”

Burns will start Friday while Thompson lists TBA for both Saturday and Sunday with Jack Owen out with a shoulder injury. The candidates to start include Carson Skipper, Brooks Fuller and Bailey Horn.

Mississippi State is among the league leaders in a number of categories with a .313 batting average (2nd), 187 runs (2nd), 58 doubles (1st), 21 home runs (tied 5th), 2.32 ERA (3rd), 262 strikeouts (1st) and .974 fielding percentage (7th).

Game times for the series will be Friday at 6 p.m. CT, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be on SECN+.