The St. Ambrose baseball team took two games out of three against the Roosevelt Lakers (16-20, 10-10 CCAC) this weekend, picking up two more key conference wins as they head down the backhalf of the season.

Friday's series opener was played in Chicago, Ill. where the Bees got out to an early lead. Cooper Huckabone roped in Adrian Zietara and Shawn Rigsby to put St. Ambrose up 2-0 in the the opening frame.

In the top of the seventh with the Bees holding on to a one-run lead, Zietara used his speed to force an error from the Laker shortstop. This allowed Mike Snow to wheel around the bases to put another run on the board. Nate Villagomez tallied his first RBI of the weekend to tack on an insurance run in the ninth inning.

Nick Hernandez collected the save in relief, going 2 2/3 innings in relief to nail down the 4-2 win. Nick Vollmert went 6 1/3 as the starting pitcher, scattering three hits and tossing eight punchouts to pick up the win.

Saturday's doubleheader took place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at Mt. Mercy's baseball complex. The Lakers got to St. Ambrose starter Michael Dudek early, putting up three runs in the top of the first. This was all Dudek would allow, however, as he mowed down 13-straight over the following four innings.

Snow knocked in Max Rumpf and Brenden Butler with a triple to the gap in right center to get the Bees back in the mix in the second inning. Rigsby started the next inning with a triple of his own. Bryce Vincent lifted a sac-fly to bring in Rigsby and tie the game at 3-3. In the next at bat, Huckabone smacked a double to left and would later score off a Butler double to take the lead.

The Fighting Bees poured it on with a six-spot sixth inning to put the game on ice. Zietara, Rigsby, Vincent and Rumpf all tallied RBIs in the big inning. Dudek tossed six innings en route to his seventh win of the season. Conor O'Hara tossed the final inning in relief.

The final game of the series found its way into extras. After the Bees got out to a 7-3 lead by the end of the third inning, the Lakers pieced together the comeback to force extra innings.

The Bees did all they could, but it was ultimately Roosevelt that was able to find the late runs and take the closeout game in the 11th inning to a score of 10-7. Villagomez scratched in two RBIs in the tilt, with Kyel Alexander, Rigsby, Butler and Rumpf all knocking one in, as well.

St. Ambrose moves to 25-8 overall and 16-4 in conference action and are sitting in the No. 2 spot in the CCAC standings, only three games out of first. The Bees hit the road to take on Lincoln on Tuesday.