No. 2 Texas Preparing for Heavyweight Series Against No.5 Auburn

There is no such thing as a weekend off when it comes to SEC play. It is a 30-game gauntlet against the best competition in college baseball. And for the No. 2 Texas Longhorns (18-2, 2-1), this rings especially true as they hit the road for a three-game series against the No. 5 Auburn Tigers (18-2, 3-0).

Both the Longhorns and Tigers took care of business in their respective opening weekends of conference play. Texas took two games from the Ole Miss Rebels, while Auburn got the job done with a sweep of the Missouri Tigers.

Conference championships cannot be won this early in the season, however they can definitely be impacted. These two teams certainly know that and will be looking to further bolster their place among the top contenders for the SEC crown.

How do the Longhorns and Tigers stack up?

Texas Longhorns Aiden Robbins, Casey Borba and Anthony Pack Jr. throw up the Hook 'Em Horns. | University of Texas Athletic

How to watch/listen -

Friday March 20 - 6 p.m. CT - SEC Network+/TexasSports.com/Audio

Saturday March 21 - 6 p.m. CT - SEC Network+/TexasSports.com/Audio

Sunday March 22 - 2 p.m. CT - SEC Network+/TexasSports.com/Audio

A look at Auburn's season so far -

Through their first 20 games, the Tigers have been one of the top teams in the nation. They enter the series against the Longhorns with an 11-game winning streak in tow, which includes a sweep of Missouri to kick off their journey through conference play.

Auburn by the numbers -

Record - 18-2 (3-0)

Runs scored - 154

Runs allowed - 55

Team Avg. - .312

Opponent Avg. - .198

Team ERA - 2.26

Opponent ERA - 7.15

Auburn wins this series if...

Its pitching staff can continue its dominant start to the season and shut down the Longhorns lineup. So far this season the Tigers have had no issues mowing through the lineup of their opponents, making hitters look silly and only giving up a mere 2.8 runs per game.

However, this will arguably be their toughest test yet. Yes, Texas is coming off a disappointing loss to the Tarleton State Texans in which it managed only one run on two hits. Before that, though, it had scored at least 10 runs in seven of the nine previous games.

If Auburn can bring out the version of the Longhorns that showed up against the Texans, then it has a very strong chance at sending them back to Austin with a series loss.

Texas wins this series if...

It can get enough offensive production for the starting rotation. In an ideal world, the Longhorns would score 10-plus runs every game and give the trio of Ruger Riojas, Luke Harrison and Dylan Volantis plenty of room to work with. However, that is unfortunately not always going to be the case.

Especially this weekend, when runs are likely to be at a premium with two of the nation's top staffs facing off. Fortunately for the Longhorns, their arms have proven they can shut down foes. So, the offense needs to come into this series ready to scratch across runs by any means necessary, from drawing walks to moving guys over via small ball.

The rotation not needing to be perfect would be a big win for the Longhorns, and if the bats can do their job then it bodes well for their chances to get another big SEC series win.