AUBURN | Edouard Julien declared the home run competition all but over after slugging four in Auburn’s first six games.

Steven Williams had other ideas.

“I was talking to him yesterday, I was saying, ‘I’m catching up on you so you better watch out,’” Williams joked.

Julien won last year’s competition between the pair of Freshmen All-Americans 17-12. Williams has hit two home runs in the last four games to cut Julien’s lead in half, 4-2, this season.

“Steven Williams continues to swing a hot bat for us. That’s exciting,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “I see something where he’s really engaged right now. … It’s really good to see that barrel flatten out for him.”

After just three hits in his first seven games, only one for extra bases, Williams is hitting .588 (10 of 17) in his last four with one double, two home runs and five RBI. He’s raised his batting average .192 points during that span from .125 to .317.

“It was definitely pretty frustrating,” Williams said. “Coming off a good year last year, coming into the season I was ready to play, I was excited. It was a rough opening weekend and a couple of games at UCF, and I finally got it clicking the last game against UCF and I’ve felt comfortable ever since.”

While Williams has been surging at the plate, Julien has gone in the opposite direction. He’s hitting just .176 with eight strikeouts and no extra-base hits in the last five games.

“Me and him are actually never hot at the same time, it’s weird,” Williams said. “It’s a rare occasion for both me and him to be hitting at the same time. I don’t know, maybe that time is coming up.

Auburn, off to a 9-2 start, hosts UT Martin for a two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games begin at 4 p.m. CT on SECN+.