St. Ambrose climbed back to .500 in conference play by sweeping a doubleheader at St. Francis Tuesday afternoon. The Bees won the opener 12-4 before outlasting the Saints in the second game 15-13.

SAU picked up 31 total hits across both games.

Nineteen of those hits came in the first game, the 12-4 win. The Bees scored in five of the seven innings, including multiple runs in four separate frames.

St. Ambrose (8-12, 5-5 CCAC) led throughout after RBI singles from Quinn Flanagan and Kevin Niedzwiedz helped the team open up a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.

The Bees broke things open over the third, fourth and fifth innings. Jeremy Conforti's RBI triple was followed by an RBI single from Joey Fitzgerald Jr. and a Filip Milatovic sacrifice fly in the third. In the fourth, Conforti singled to bring in Niedzwiedz for a 6-1 lead. An inning later, Flanagan and Bryce Vorwald had run-scoring singles to push the advantage to 8-1.

SAU tacked on four more runs in the seventh, with Niedzwiedz's two-run double being the big blow. Jake Pauley and Conforti also drove in a run in the inning.

Conforti finished 4-for-5 with his three RBIs. Niedzwiedz and Vorwald each had three hits and Pauley, Flanagan and Brandon Matias had two apiece. Brandon Roth also singled in the opener.

Joe Turek earned the win by allowing three earned runs over 6 2/3 innings. Garrett Vincent recorded the final out.

The offense continued to score in the second game. Fitzgerald picked up three more hits, including a big three-run homer late, while Conforti and Niedzwiedz each added two more.

Conforti and Fitzgerald got the scoring started with RBIs in the top of the first. After USF rallied for a 3-2 lead, Matias ripped a three-run home run to center to put SAU back in front 5-3 in the third.

With the game tied at 5-5, Conforti was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth to put the Bees back in front. Fitzgerald and Matias knocked in runs later in the inning.

The back-and-forth contest continued as St. Francis went ahead 11-8 after six.

But St. Ambrose pushed across seven runs in the seventh. Roth had a two-run double to start the rally. Vorwald and Conforti each drove in a run to give SAU a slim 12-11 lead. Fitzgerald followed with his three-run shot to right to pad the lead.

The Saints scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings before Brad Niedzwiedz worked a perfect ninth inning to close out the win.

Justin Lane was credited with the win after tossing two innings in relief. He followed Joe Evans and Hayden Kingsbury, who combined to pitch the first five innings. Brad Niedzwiedz recorded the final six outs to earn his second save.

SAU will play a four-game weekend series with Trinity Christian. The teams will play a doubleheader in Palos Heights, Ill., Friday before playing the final two games at NelsonCorp Field in Clinton, Iowa, Saturday.