Something strange happened this week at Plainsman Park.

The Auburn Tigers didn’t need a touchdown and a field goal to put away their opponents.

With a 4-2 victory over Georgia State and a 6-3 win against Bethune-Cookman, the Tigers put up customary baseball scores in back-to-back games for the first time all season. It marked the first period all season where their combined final scores hung under double-digits in consecutive efforts.

“It really kept us on our toes,” coach John Pawlowski said. “Sometimes when you score a lot of runs, a lot of little things get overlooked.”

Auburn (22-10, 6-6 SEC) has been able to mash itself out of a number of jams so far this season, but winning the way it did this week brings out a few more teeth in Pawlowski’s smile.

While runs are never at a premium for the Tigers’ heavy-hitting lineup, they’ll face one of their steepest challenges of the season this weekend in Florida. Tonight’s game is set for 6 p.m. at Plainsman Park followed by a 3 p.m. start Saturday and 1 p.m. Easter Sunday.

“That’s the strength of their team,” Pawlowski said. “They’re strike throwers. In this league, if you can’t pitch it makes it very difficult.”

The Gators rank second in the SEC with a team ERA of 3.82 — almost a full two runs lower than Auburn’s. But signs of improvement emerged this week in the Tigers’ two non-conference tilts.

Auburn’s oft-maligned bullpen was tested early in both games, and aside from a spotty effort from Scott Shuman on Wednesday, was nearly flawless — by its standards, at least. In eight innings of work, the unit allowed two earned runs and seven hits.

A closer has yet to emerge, and it will likely remain by-committee for the rest of the season. But some sort of corner may have been turned.

“Any time you win,” Pawlowski said, “it certainly helps the mentality of the team.”

So does the team’s 6-6 conference record at this point of the season, Pawlowski said.

Only one team, Tennessee, has been basically eliminated from the eight-team SEC Tournament race, as the Tigers sit in a five-way cluster of teams within a game of each other.

“One of the things we talk about in SEC play is keeping our head above water,” Pawlowski said. “It’s going to come down to the last two or three series. It seems like that’s the trend every year. We want to put ourselves in a position that when it comes into the season here, we want a chance to fight to get into that SEC tournament.

“The guys understand where we are and the importance, obviously, of our SEC games, especially this weekend.”

The Tigers were 6-6 at this point last season, but were swept by South Carolina and won just one series thereafter, missing the SEC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.

“As you move forward and deeper into the SEC season, it’s just like a game,” Pawlowski said. “The later in the game, the deeper you get in a game, the more significance.”

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