AUBURN - It only took Sean Shoffit two pitches to get the Auburn Doubledays on the board Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, it took three more innings for Auburn to come up with another hit as the New Jersey Cardinals flew to an easy 8-4 victory in front of 2,521 fans at Falcon Park, ending the Doubledays' modest three-game winning streak.

The Cardinals wasted no time getting to starter Orlando Trias as they peppered him for a pair of runs in the opening frame. Casey Rowlett doubled to right for the first of 18 New Jersey hits on the night, and he scored on an A.J. Van Slyke single two batters later. Tyler Greene, who walked, later scored on an error to give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead.

In all, the Doubledays committed three errors, all in the first four innings as Trias was chased out in the third inning. He took the loss to drop to 2-4 after allowing four runs - three earned - and eight hits in just three innings.

"It starts with pitching, it ends with pitching and we just didn't pitch very well tonight," Auburn manager Dennis Holmberg said.

But the Doubledays didn't let an early deficit get them down.

Shoffit led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run that sailed over the right-field wall on starting pitcher Kyle Sadlowski's second offering of the game. It was his first home run of the season.

"He threw me a fastball in for a ball, and I just geared up for the fastball and sure enough it came right over the plate," Shoffit said. "I got my foot down and got the barrel on it, and it went."

Shoffit is now 8 for his last 15 with four runs, four doubles, three RBIs and one homer in the last three games. He attributed his recent success to a new approach he has developed with hitting coach Justin Mashore.

"I'm trying to hit everything to left field and it's working great," Shoffit said. "I'm squaring up and hitting the ball on the barrel. Early in the season I wasn't hitting the barrel, so I was getting jammed."

Other Auburn hitters weren't so lucky. Sadlowksy retired 11 of the next 12 batters and didn't allow another hit until the fourth inning.

Trailing 4-1, Kyle Bohm drew a two-out walk, and Jermy Acey followed with a single.

Brian Pettway, batting just .189 going into the game, belted a double to score the two Auburn baserunners to get the Doubledays within one.

But the Cardinals pulled away with another run in the fifth, two more in the sixth and another in the eighth to lead 8-3.

Meanwhile, southpaw Adam Daniels shut down Auburn's bats allowing just one hit with seven strikeouts in four innings of work.

The only hit was a single by Ryan Patterson, and he was the only Doubleday to reach base with Daniels on the mound. He got the win to move to 1-0 this season.

"He was keeping us off-balance with his slider and his change-up," Shoffit said. "He can throw 91 (mph), so it's tough to keep up with."

Patterson got his next hit in the ninth inning before fans could even finish adjusting their rally caps.

He cranked a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for his seventh long ball of the season.

"We were down five runs so I knew he had to throw strikes coming in there," said Patterson, the only Doubleday to have multiple hits.

"He threw me a fastball over the plate trying to get a strike, and I got enough of it."

He and fellow Auburn outfielder Cory Patton are now tied for the New York-Penn League lead in home runs.

"It's nice to have Patton and Patterson to put into your lineup because they are always going to be a threat," Holmberg said.

Pinch-hitter Nick Thomas followed with a single, but a double play and a strikeout ended the comeback.

Jermy Acey had the only other hit for the Doubledays, while Chad Gabriel, Daniel Nelson, Rowlett and Van Slyke each had three hits for the Cardinals.

Auburn hosts the Cardinals again tonight, looking for the series victory.