AUBURN - “This team is full of winners and we never quit until the last out,” Auburn Doubledays pitcher Brett Cecil said.

The way the Doubledays finished their series with Mahoning Valley at Falcon Park on Wednesday proved Cecil's assessment of his team, and then some.

For the second straight night, Auburn put its best foot forward in a playoff-like atmosphere and took the shortened series with the Scrappers by a score of 3-2 once again.

The score might have duplicated the previous night's, but the game certainly didn't. After combining on four errors on Tuesday, the Scrappers committed the only one in the seventh, when the Doubledays notched all of their runs.

On the mound, Cecil and Scrappers' starter Heath Taylor dueled with similar results. The Toronto Blue Jays' first rounder was on a restricted pitch count of about 55 to 65, but lasted 4 1-3 innings, scattering eight strikeouts and just two hits.

“I didn't expect to go that long beforehand,” Cecil said. “I just had to get the feel for everything, I didn't really have my fastball tonight - I definitely didn't feel like I had it in the bullpen. The breaking stuff and changeup were all working well tonight. I had 10 pitches left going into the fifth inning, so I knew I had to throw strikes and put a couple of balls in play, but after two strikeouts, they had to go to the next guy. In a sense, it's a really good thing, but I always wish I could go longer and get a win. These last few outings have really been the best of my pro career though, so it was nice.”

Taylor lasted six innings, allowing five hits but striking out seven. The game remained scoreless until the Doubledays blinked fist, in the sixth. Alan Farina replaced Cecil on the mound and struggled, lasting just an inning. In his second appearance this week off of the disabled list, Farina allowed two hits and a walk in the first three batters in the sixth. Before striking out Matt Brown, Christo Arnal scored on a passed ball to JP Arencibia to put the Scrappers on the board first.

“We almost expected this kind of game from (Mahoning Valley) in these two games coming in,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “It boiled down to making a pitch, a play, an at-bat. Brett Cecil had almost five good innings, Farina was a little disappointing, his second time out in about four days and we've got to find a way to get better results from him. But as bad as it might have been, it certainly could have been a lot worse. (Nate) Melek did a nice job coming in for him and (Joe) Wice was the right man in the right spot, but he's been that guy for us all season.”

Melek (3-1) got his third win in Auburn. He threw three strikeouts, and added with Farina's three, the trio matched Auburn's season high for strikeouts in a game with 14.

Those punch-outs were overshadowed by some pretty good defense on both sides, though. The Doubledays outfield of Ben Zeskind, Adam Calderone and Victor Santana made some nice catches in the first six innings, but Mahoning Valley center fielder Matt Brown probably earned his way into more time in the lineup after his effort.

With starter Adam White out of the lineup, Brown fielded two routine balls, a Luis Sanchez fly out in the third and a Darin Mastroianni double in the sixth, and managed to prevent a run both times.

On base due to a double, Ben Zeskind was tagged out at home in the third by Brown, when Michael Valadez caught the neatly thrown ball well in advance of Zeskind sliding into home.

With one out, Zeskind singled in the sixth and advanced to second on a long fly out by Adam Calderone. Mastroianni's double gave Zeskind a legitimate shot at scoring the Doubledays' first run before the 8-6-2 play that ended in a jarring collision between Zeskind and Valadez that once again ended an inning.

“The second time perhaps, there was going to be more of a collision because he was getting blocked off at the plate,” Holmberg said. “First of all, the first play, Ben seemed to be out by quite a bit. The second time, the ball hit by Mastroianni was well into center field and (Brown) just did a heck of a job, fielding it on one hop and just throwing it back over his head like it was a hand grenade. Then, their shortstop, who relayed to the plate, made another major-league throw, grounding from the center fielder and again, over the shoulder to get him out. And this is with their primary center fielder, White, out of the lineup.”

With Taylor off the mound for the Scrappers, the Doubledays took advantage of Dan Morales, who lasted just 1-3 of the inning, but it was enough to blow his second save of the year and get his first loss. Manny Rodriguez led off the inning with a double up the middle, followed by singles from Brad Emaus, who had two hits on the night, and Arencibia, who hit in Rodriguez. Carlos Vasquez moved over both remaining runners with a sacrifice bunt and while attempting to intentionally walk pinch hitter CJ Ebarb, Morales allowed Emaus and Arencibia to score on two wild pitches.

Karexon Sanchez hit a stand-up triple in the eighth to try and mount a come back for the Scrappers, and Chris Nash scored him on a sacrifice ground out, but that would be the last score for the Scrappers against the Doubledays this season. Joe Wice got his sixth save of the year in the ninth after facing just four batters.

“I have to give Mahoning Valley a lot of credit,” Holmberg said. They scraped, they clawed and their starter, Heath, pitched a heck of a ball game. You saw two quality arms going at each other, both him and Cecil. You saw some major league baseball being played in Auburn, New York tonight, that's for sure. It was a great win, but the only thing that's changed is our magic number and the team that we're going to play tomorrow night. I think it's important to come out tomorrow, having spent a lot of energy and adrenaline on these two games, and not let our guard down. There's the next day when you come out and try to balance your emotions and get back on that horse and riding in that race.“

The Doubledays' (41-26) magic number has been whittled to four.

With two wins and two Scrappers (34-31) losses, the Doubledays will have clinched their sixth Pinckney Division title in as many years. Auburn hosts State College, today.

“We've had a lot of games like these,” Cecil said. “Our series with Brooklyn, when we took one of the three games, and all three were great games. These past two days here were just like playoff games. It just gives us a little taste of what it'll be like, if and when we do make the playoffs.”

D-days Today

Record: 41-26

Standings: First place, 6-game lead

Streak: 2 wins

Next: vs. State College, today, 7 p.m.