Top of the order pacing Auburn’s high-octane offense

AUBURN | The top of Auburn’s batting order has become devastatingly efficient.

Leadoff hitter Anfernee Grier is riding a 22-game hitting streak, is second in the SEC with a .432 batting average and is one of only two players nationally with six home runs and at least 12 stolen bases.

Batting right behind Grier is Joshua Palacios, who leads the SEC with a .433 average. Then comes Jordan Ebert, who is hitting .358 and is third in the SEC among active players with 202 career hits. Niko Buentello, who has six home runs and is third in the nation with 34 RBI, bats cleanup.

“It’s been amazing,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “This little stretch here has been as good of offense as I can remember being a part of. In my 15th year in the SEC that’s as good as a 1-2-3-4-punch as I’ve seen.”

It’s been an especially good stretch for Palacios who is hitting .600 in the last nine games with 16 runs scored, nine RBI and eight extra-base hits. He’s raised his average .133 points during the streak.

“He’s making me step up my game. It’s fun,” said Grier, who leads the nation with 34 runs scored. “We go out and have a good time playing the game and just deal with the results at the end of the day.

“With everybody hitting it just makes it easier as a hitter. Hitting is contagious. I think everybody is playing loose and playing with confidence.”

Auburn will try to keep swinging those hot bats this weekend as they head to Arkansas for a three-game series. The Tigers are 11-10 on the season, dropping 2 of 3 to No. 3 Texas A&M last weekend.

The Razorbacks are 15-6 on the season but were swept at South Carolina to open SEC play. Arkansas is 10th in the SEC in hitting (.288), 12th in pitching (3.95 ERA) and sixth in fielding (.978). Auburn is second in hitting (.327), 14th in pitching (4.11) and 14th in fielding (.959).

“They have 25 home runs, I think that’s significant,” Thompson said. “If we don’t make adjustments and make pitches up and out over the plate at the catcher’s mask like we did last weekend, they’ve shown the capability of losing those baseballs.

“I still go back to I’m really staying focused on us and our growth and development and No. 2 is whoever executes the game the best is probably going to win this series.”

Auburn is sticking with the same starting rotation from last weekend in senior right-hander Justin Camp (1-1, 4.94) Friday, freshman right-hander Casey Mize (1-1, 3.38) Saturday and junior right-hander Cole Lipscomb (1-2, 6.33) Sunday.

“We’re trying to be really positive with our pitchers, trying to find a couple of adjustments we can make and try to realign the pen and try to have better starts and understand this weekend will be different than last,” Thompson said.

Arkansas will counter with junior right-hander Dominic Taccolini (3-1, 4.06) Friday, sophomore right-hander Keaton McKinney (0-0, 6.30) Saturday and TBA Sunday.

Game times for the series at Baum Stadium are 6:35 p.m. CT Friday, 6:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. All three game will be available on SECN+ and WatchESPN.