AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn kept on slugging Sunday, right into the thick of the SEC West race.

Brian Fletcher hit two home runs and Kevin Patterson one in the No. 19 Tigers’ 11-8 win against Mississippi State at Plainsman Park, completing their first three-game sweep of the Bulldogs since 1987.

The win bumped Auburn (33-15, 15-9 SEC) into a second-place tie in the West with Ole Miss, one game back of Arkansas with two regular season series left to play. The Tigers host Tennessee next weekend before traveling to Ole Miss.

“Sweeping this weekend is huge for us,” Fletcher said. “Every one counts.”

One more win coupled with an Alabama loss would clinch the Tigers a spot in the SEC tournament in Hoover, Ala., for the first time since 2003.

“Our goal is to get to the SEC tournament. That remains our No. 1 objective,” Auburn head coach John Pawlowski said. “Then we move on to objective No. 2.”

Auburn overcame shaky pitching by hitting 12 home runs and scoring 36 runs in three games against the last-place Bulldogs (20-28, 5-19), who have lost 11 straight.

Fletcher hit his 15th and 16th home runs in the third and fourth innings to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead. It was his third multi-homer game this year.

Patterson clobbered a solo home run to right, past the bleachers and into a grassy clearing, during a three-run fifth to make it 9-4.

“He’s hit some balls far, but that was amazing,” Pawlowski said. “The kid is so strong.”

Auburn’s pitchers, who allowed 28 runs in 27 innings during the weekend, barely managed to maintain the lead.

Starter Grant Dayton (6-2) gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings.

MSU pulled within 9-8 after a two-run homer by Luke Adkins in the sixth and an RBI single by Ryan Collins in the seventh.

The Bulldogs continued to rally in the seventh, putting runners at second and third with two outs before Pawlowski went to beleaguered starter Cole Nelson out of the bullpen. The tall lefty, who was dropped from the starting rotation after a string of poor outings, struck out pinch hitter Jet Butler looking to get out of the jam.

“That was real encouraging,” Pawlowski said. “That was the type of stuff we’re going to need down the home stretch.”

Nelson pitched 1 1/3 shutout innings in his first relief appearance, striking out three.

“I felt like I was down (in the strike zone) the whole game, which has really been one of my problems,” he said. “I’ve been trying to fix what was keeping me up in the zone. So it was really good to get into the game and actually perform like that.”

Austin Hubbard pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth for his seventh save.

Catcher Ryan Jenkins went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles. He was 7-for-13 in the series, with a home run, three doubles and six RBIs.

“I’m seeing it really good right now,” Jenkins said. “I don’t know. I guess when you get hot, you get hot. I’m not going to do anything to jinx it. I feel good at the plate.”

The Tigers play at South Alabama on Tuesday before returning home for a three-game series against Tennessee starting Friday.