AUBURN | Auburn’s bullpen turned a home run derby turned into a pitcher’s duel.

Carson Myers and John Armstrong combined to throw 7.2 shutout innings out of bullpen to lead the Tigers to a 9-5 win over No. 4 Tennessee Friday night in front of a record crowd of 5,119 at Plainsman Park.

“When we came out I thought it was going to be 30-28," said AU coach Butch Thompson. "Then you’re just looking to tone down the barrels. It happened on both sides, but I thought Carson started taking the sting out of the swing. Then it was Armstrong’s night.

"I think that was his longest, most pitches in a ball game. His stuff was set and it was elite and the timing was good. Just an amazing job by those two guys."

Auburn improves to 18-11 overall and 2-8 in the SEC and will go for its first conference series win Saturday afternoon.

Myers (2-2) earned the win throwing 3.2 shutout innings. He allowed three hits, three walks and struck out four on 63 pitches.

"Just go out there and throw as many strikes as possible. They want you to go out there and just fill it up and that’s what me and John did. Just go out there and compete our butts off," said Myers.

Armstrong allowed just one hit and struck out six in a career-high 4.0 innings to earn his second save of the season. He needed just 55 pitches to retire 12 of the 14 batters he faced.

"I felt like we needed to help our hitters out a little bit more today," said Armstrong. "So it was good to throw up a lot of zeros, me and Myers, and just get after it."

Six of AU’s nine runs came with two outs and eight came in the first two innings.

Both offenses started off hot as Tennessee plated three runs in the first before Auburn answered with five in the bottom of the inning, all with two outs.

Ike Irish got it started with a solo home run over the right field wall followed by back-to-back-to-back singles by Cooper McMurray, Bobby Peirce and Christian Hall to drive in another run.

Cade Belyeu followed with a 461-foot, three-run home run well over the wall in right-center to give AU a 5-3 lead.

The Volunteers tied it right back up in the second on a two-run home run before the Tigers answered with three more in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-single by Irish, RBI-groundout by Peirce and a two-out, RBI-single by Hall.

McMurray added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Irish was 3 of 4 with two RBI including his 11th home run of the season. Hall was 2 of 3 with two RBI and Belyeu 1 of 4 with three RBI and his second home run. Mason Maners had two hits, and McMurray and Peirce drove in a run apiece.

Tennessee’s bullpen also shined as Aaron Combs, Kirby Connell and Chris Stamos combined to hold AU to a run on four hits over the final 6.2 innings.

AU starter Dylan Watts allowed five runs on six hits in 1.1 innings. He gave up back-to-back doubles and a two-run home run in the first and a two-run home run in the second.

The series continues Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT and Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games are on SECN+/ESPN+.