The St. Ambrose Fighting Bees went down to the wire with Roosevelt in their opening round matchup of the CCAC Tournament on Friday.

After scoring the first four runs of the game, the Fighting Bees had to hold on against the surging Lakers. Roosevelt scored the final three runs to make things interesting, but the Bees held strong to lock up the opening round win 4-3.

The Bees looked to sophomore right-hander Michael Dudek to carry the load for them in their opening round matchup, and he delivered. Dudek almost went the distance, pitching 8 2/3 of three-run ball, scattering four hits and punching out three along the way.

Dudek got his run support right out of the gate, with the Bees scratching across their four runs in the first two innings. Liam Dennehy got things started with a leadoff double in the bottom of the first and was punched in on a Cooper Huckabone RBI single to left field to get the Bees on the board first. Shawn Rigsby then singled through the right side to score Cole Aughenbaugh and push the Bees lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the second, Dennehy smacked an RBI triple down the right field line that scored the pinch-running Kyel Alexander. Dennehy was able to come home on a Mike Coughlin RBI single to right field to put the Bees up 4-0 early.

This would be the last run the Bees would get across, with the Bees' bats going silent for the remainder of the game. Roosevelt clawed their way back into the game, cutting the St. Ambrose lead to one with a two-run seventh inning.

In the final inning, Dudek found himself in a tight situation after surrendering a leadoff single. Dudek found a way to collect two outs, but the leadoff runner was able to advance to third after a sacrifice bunt and a tag-up on a flyout. With the tying run 90 feet away, the Fighting Bees looked junior lefty James Cormier to collect the final out.

Cormier stuck out the Laker batter looking, collecting the save and securing the Bees first win of the 2021 CCAC Tournament.

The Fighting Bees outhit the Lakers 9-4 in the opening round victory. Dennehy went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Brenden Butler and Mike Snow both tallied two hits each.

With the win, St. Ambrose remains moves on to the next round in the winner's bracket. Roosevelt is bumped down to loser's bracket, one loss away from elimination. The No. 2-seeded Fighting Bees will move on to play the sixth-seeded Saint Xavier, coming off of a big upset win over the No. 3-seeded Judson at 4 pm on Saturday.