It's a one-word answer.

To the question of what the Auburn Doubledays need in the final month of the season to win a sixth straight Pinckney Division title - the response is simple. The answer isn't pitching, coaching, hitting or even winning.

It's consistency.

“We need consistency with our bullpen and with our starters,” Doubledays reliever Cody Crowell said. “When we put it together, this team is great. But consistency is our main thing.”

The bullpen has actually been a bright spot in the pitching rotation. Only starters Marc Rzepczynski (3-0) and Brett Cecil (1-0) have winning records, while Joe Wice (4-0) and Crowell (5-1) lead the pen. Make no mistake though, pitching isn't the only area that needs to get on an even keel down the stretch.

The Doubledays might lead the New York-Penn League in home runs, with 45, but at times, it's been the smaller hits that have been lacking. In 14 of their 23 losses, the Doubledays were outscored by three runs or less and in half of the close losses, Auburn has managed just six hits or less.

Lucky for them, the Doubledays get a break in their schedule. Well, sort of.

As it was in the first 18 games of the season, Auburn wraps up the regular schedule with 23 games - all against Pinckney Division rivals, starting today against Batavia after the three-game all-star break.

Unlike last season, when the Muckdogs owned the Doubledays, it's Auburn who has already won the season series against the second-to-last-place team, with a 5-1 record against them.

Not that the Doubledays can afford to coast through the last three weeks of the season, while currently owning just a one-game lead over Mahoning Valley. The Scrappers are the only other Pinckney Division team with a winning record, but will be the biggest thorn in Auburn's side. The two teams meet for two separate two-game series in the next two weeks. In third place, just 3.5 games back of the Doubledays is State College, who can't be discounted either. Especially since the Spikes have won four of six meetings with Auburn this season.

“You know which teams are always going to be competing, for the most part,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “Oneonta's there, Brooklyn and Staten Island also and you always know that those series are very important. But you also look at the very end of the season and stay as close as you possibly can. We've got to go down to State College and Jamestown in the last five games of the season.”

Those little things include good production from leadoff hitter Ben Zeskind and cleanup batter Manny Rodriguez. Shawn Scobee, who has ripped off five home runs in the last two weeks, has been solid in the middle of the lineup.

Adam Calderone and Victor Santana, who have seven and six home runs, respectively, have also had hot bats this season and look to continue the trend. Smart base running will also be key - the Doubledays have only been caught stealing 18 times this year, fourth least in the NY-P.

But most importantly, what Auburn needs to do for the rest of the month, is what it's historically done in the final month of the season - win. So far that has not been the case in the first 12 games this month as the Doubledays have split six wins and six losses.

“We can't fall out of grace too fast and fall behind,” Holmberg said. “You've got to keep plugging and keep playing and continue to do the little things that help us win ballgames.”

D-days Today

Record: 30-23

Standings: First place, 1-game lead

Streak: 1 loss

Next: vs. Batavia, today, 7 p.m.