St. Ambrose opened conference play by splitting a doubleheader at St. Francis Monday afternoon. The Bees dropped the opener 5-3 in 10 innings before rebounding to claim the second game 8-4.

Noah McCreary had a huge day at the plate in the SAU win, going 4-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored.

It was a four-run second inning that lifted St. Ambrose to the victory. Trailing 2-1 after a Brock Webber sacrifice fly in the first inning, the Bees sent 10 batters to the plate in the second. Chris McFarland, McCreary and Bryce Vincent had RBI singles and Webber brought in another when he reached on an error to put SAU in front 5-2.

McCreary hit his solo shot in the fourth before Nate Villagomez and McCreary added run-scoring singles in the fifth to up the lead to 8-2. USF scored a single run in the fifth and another in the seventh to end the scoring.

McFarland finished 3-for-4 while Webber, Mike Pawyza and Villagomez each had two hits.

Joey Turek got the win, going the distance, allowing nine hits and three earned runs over seven innings. He struck out eight.

A late rally forcing extra innings wasn't enough in the opener.

Trailing 3-2 entering the seventh inning, Adrian Zietara reached on an error to get things started. With one out, he stole second and moved to third on McFarland's base hit. Villagomez dropped down a squeeze bunt to plate Zietara with the tying run.

The Bees had an opportunity to win the game in the ninth with Zietara again in the middle of things. He ripped a one-out single to center and promptly stole second. But he was stranded there as Pawyza flied out to center and Jalen Avery fouled out to end the inning.

St. Francis capitalized in the 10th. A leadoff triple was followed by a hit batsman and a walk to load the bases with one out. The Saints got the clutch hit, dumping a single into left to score a pair of runs. That proved to be the difference as the Bees came up empty in the bottom half of the inning.

Jake Mucha helped the Bees rally from an early 2-0 deficit. His single in the fourth scored Cooper Huckabone and later in the inning, he drew a pickoff attempt that the first baseman couldn't handle, allowing Webber to score.

Grant Baker was the hard-luck loser. He allowed just four hits and two runs over 4 1/3 innings of relief. He struck out eight. Nick Vollmert started and surrendered three runs over five innings. Hunter Keim worked the final 2/3 of an inning.

SAU (6-16, 1-1 CCAC) will play its home opener Tuesday. The Bees will welcome Olivet Nazarene to Modern Woodmen Park for a CCAC doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.