AUBURN - Against Batavia this season, one has been the magic number for the Auburn Doubledays.

In eight wins over the Muckdogs, the Doubledays have earned six of them by a single run, including Saturday's 2-1 victory at Falcon Park. For the second time this year, Auburn swept the team that caused them the most headaches in 2006, including the 1-0 victory at home on Thursday.

“I'm glad we're winning them by one run,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “It's hard to say, we just find a way to get those one run leads. I don't know how you put much into it, other than it's just the competition of two teams that are in such close proximity within the division. The competition seems to be good.”

Of the seven hits that Auburn earned on the night, it took just CJ Ebarb's two-out, two-run double in the second to win the game. The perfect ground ball that skirted just fair down the first base line scored JP Arencibia and Darin Mastroianni, who reached on consecutive singles to left field.

“We hit a number of balls hard, we had a lot of guys lining out,” Holmberg said. “Certainly, CJ got a big hit - whoever put him in the lineup to hit in that spot should be considered a genius. Truthfully though, we hit a lot of balls hard, a lot more than they did and this is a game of consequences. Certainly, we could have scored a few more runs and had a few more hits, but it just didn't happen but we're very thankful for the win.”

It was another come-from-behind victory for the Doubledays after Batavia scored once in the first, but could not hold on for the second straight day. Tommy Pham hit a slow hopper to Doubledays pitcher Brett Cecil, who had trouble fielding the ball. The error cost the Doubledays a run after Andrew Brown smacked an RBI double off the right-center field wall. What could have been a costly run proved to be inconsequential as four Auburn pitchers combined to allowed just three hits all game and after the first inning, no more than four Muckdogs batted in any inning.

Brad Mills came into the game in the third in relief of Cecil, who has been under a strict pitch count, and the result was Mills' best - and longest - outing of the season. After almost a month on the DL, Mills had only pitched 8 1-3 innings this season, but stretched out five on Saturday. He only allowed two hits, one walk and threw four strikeouts in his second win of the year. Nate Melek and Joe Wice threw an inning apiece to close out the game.

Brandon Garner (1-4) got the loss in his seventh start.

“Cecil got two innings in, we would have liked to have seen him get three because we got the go, from NASA, to launch him into three innings. But he came out with about 38 pitches and he had a limit of about 45,” Holmberg said. “Mills was the key tonight though, the guy that got us over the bridge into the river. He bridged the gap to Melek, who bridged the gap to Wice. In a perfect world, that's what you'd like to see.”

With the win coupled with a Mahoning Valley win, the Doubledays (33-23) hold a two-game lead over second place Scrappers, whom they face on the road, Tuesday. Next up for Auburn though, is a two-game series in Williamsport.