AUBURN – St. Dom’s coach Allan Turgeon checked on his ace, as he returned from the mound after breezing through the fifth inning of Thursday’s game between the Saints and Poland.

“Getting warmed up?” Turgeon asked his son, Ryan.

Getting warmed up wasn’t the problem, the senior right-hander replied.

“The sun’s starting to go down. I’m not as hot,” Ryan Turgeon said.

The cool spring has made moderately warm days like Thursday seem like mid-August, but Turgeon may have needed the sunset to cool down. After a shaky start, he shut down Poland and led the Saints to a 6-1 win in both teams’ regular season finale.

Turgeon went the distance, surrendering just three hits and an unearned run as the Saints improved to 12-2 and secured at least one home game in the Western C playoffs, which begin next week.

“It seems this year it’s taken (Ryan) a little longer to get settled in, but once he does, he’s pretty tough,” Allan Turgeon said.

Such was the case Thursday. Poland took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first without benefit of a hit. An error, a hit batsman, a double steal and a ground out plated Eric Piper with the Knights’ only run. They had another runner cut down at the plate on a nice play by first baseman Jim Mayo.

The Knights would add a one-out hit in the second and a leadoff walk in the third, but both runners ended up getting picked off. Turgeon’s successful pickoff in the third proved to be particularly vital because Max Levine followed it with a double and advanced to third on an error. He was stranded there, however, and the Knights wouldn’t get another baserunner until the sixth.

The Saints gave Turgeon (five Ks, one walk) all the runs he would need in the bottom of the first. Poland starter Alex Smith pitched well but was victimized by some poor fielding throughout. The Knights muffed two playable grounders to short to start the game.

“Unfortunately, whenever Alex has been pitching we tend to make errors,” said Poland coach Scott Fennessy, whose team made five miscues Thursday. “He plays shortstop for us, so when we take him out of there, we have to try to salvage that hole.”

One of those runners who reached on the misplays went on to score, and the second would have if Smith, who also had two successful pickoffs, hadn’t caught one Saint napping at first. Jack Lavoie punched an RBI single to tie the game and Brady Blackman followed with a two-out, two run single to put St. Dom’s ahead for good.

“This has been a very disciplined team and a very smart team. We don’t give up,” said Allan Turgeon. “If we get down early, we’re going to keep firing at you.”

Smith cruised through the next three innings, yielding just one hit. Three errors did him in in the fifth however, allowing the Saints to plate two more runs on a Turgeon single and a Lavoie sacrifice fly.

Jon Rutt led the Saints with two hits. Jeremy Callahan had two hits for the Knights (9-7).