AUBURN | Auburn’s pitching staff didn’t skip a beat for the start of conference play.

Tanner Burns, Elliott Anderson and Cody Greenhill combined to hold No. 21 Tennessee to four hits as the 17th-ranked Tigers won 2-0 for their sixth shutout in the last 10 games.

The trio struck out 13 and issued just two walks as Auburn improved to 16-2 overall and 1-0 in the SEC, winning its 11th consecutive game. The Volunteers fall to 17-2 and 0-1.

“Tanner Burns grinded. Tennessee came in with more walks than strikeouts and I think the first advantage of the ballgame really was them getting him way over 100 pitches,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Elliott Anderson, who had pitched Tuesday night a couple of innings, came in and got the third out.

“Coach Smith and myself were in agreement that the eighth inning was the ballgame. We scored the two runs and it was the top of the lineup and their fourth at-bat. We have a lot of respect for their 1-5 hitters so we went ahead and brought Cody Greenhill into the ballgame. I thought the ball came out of Cody’s hand tonight better than it has at any time this year. What a great time for it to show up.”

Burns held UT to four hits in 6.2 shutout innings. The sophomore right-hander struck out nine and issued just one walk on 111 pitches. Elliott Anderson (3-0) picked up the win retiring one batter in the seventh.

Cody Greenhill struck out four and didn’t allow a hit over the final 2.0 innings to earn his third save of the season as Auburn's team ERA fell to 2.02.

“I knew coming in I couldn’t throw just fastball,” Greenhill said. “We talked about that last week. Me and (Saturday starter) Jack Owen have been working on changeups and sliders this whole week, flat grounds, and I feel like that’s a big part of my game. I’m going to need that to keep them off-balance to be able to throw the fastball.”

Auburn got on the board with two runs in the seventh on three Tennessee errors. Ryan Bliss reached first on a fielding error by the shortstop. Kason Howell doubled with Bliss scoring and Howell advancing to third on an error by the left fielder.

Matt Scheffler drove home Howell with a ground ball and reached first on a throwing error by the shortstop.

Auburn had seven hits with Conor Davis going 2-for-4

Tennessee starter Garrett Stallings (4-1) was the hard-luck loser allowing two unearned runs in 7.2 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk.

The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.