AUBURN | In six SEC games totaling 55 innings, Auburn has led for just half of an inning, 1-0 in the top of the first against Ole Miss March 20.

Most of the Tiger’s six conference losses have followed a similar script. Auburn falls behind early, battles back to tie or get within a run, but can’t come up with the clutch hit to pull ahead or key strikeout to keep the opponent from stretching its lead.

Five of AU’s six losses have been by two runs or less.

“We’ve battled. We’ve come back. I just think it would be a breath of fresh air to get a different rhythm going into a ballgame,” said Auburn coach Butch Thompson. “Scoring some early runs, just a different rhythm of a ballgame, would put us in a different mindset as we navigate through a ballgame.”

Auburn dropped to 11-11 overall and 0-6 in the SEC after being swept at home by Kentucky last weekend and at Ole Miss the weekend before. The schedule only gets tougher at No. 2 Arkansas this weekend and hosting No. 8 Mississippi State the next.

Thompson, however, remains confident his team can turn it around, especially with the return of several key pitchers this week.

“Until I see my team lay it down, I’m going to assume I’m going to keep getting the same thing. They haven’t. I still think we’re in a good place,” he said.

“I think we’re still invested. This is still exciting and we feel like everything is still intact with our program except for the win-loss column starting conference play. Hopefully we can hang in there and something good will happen for us. We’ve had good work, good practice, good health, haven’t lost anybody. It seems like guys are coming back on board and hopefully we’re becoming stronger.”

The Razorbacks are 20-3 overall and 5-1 in the SEC, coming off a sweep of MSU in Starkville. Arkansas is batting .288 as a team with a .525 slugging percentage and an SEC-best 45 home runs. On the mound, UA has a 3.93 team ERA, 225 strikeouts and an SEC-best 10 saves. UA also leads the SEC with a .983 fielding percentage.

Auburn is batting .309 with a .499 slugging percentage and 32 home runs. AU has a 4.76 team ERA, 201 strikeouts and one save. AU has a .976 fielding percentage.

"This is the best amateur baseball in the country,” said Thompson of the SEC. “We need to get our share of some of these because we’re part of it. We’re supposed to be one of these teams that are capable of trading blows.

“Hopefully at the end of the day, that will pan out that we are. That we can get on a run on the opposite side just like we’ve been slow for two weeks in this deal.”

Game times for the series are 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday and Friday, and 2 p.m. Saturday. All three games will be on SECN+/ESPN+.