MCPHERSON, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College baseball team opened up its four-game series with Colby Community College on Thursday out in McPherson, earning a split of the neutral site doubleheader.

Cloud County (16-7 overall, 7-3 KJCCC) won a thrilling 2-1 pitcher's dual in Game One, receiving a go-ahead solo home run off the bat of sophomore Jackson Dietel in the sixth inning, before concluding the afternoon with a 9-3 loss to the Trojans (14-8 overall, 2-4 KJCCC).

"Colby is a good team and might be as good as any team we've seen," said Cloud County head coach, Eric Gilliland.

Sophomore starting pitcher Austen Seidel got the start opposite of Colby's ace, Logan Hofmann, and out-dueled his fellow right-hander as he tossed a complete-game gem, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out seven.

Seidel threw 66 of his 105 pitches for strikes, with the lone blemish against his line being a RBI double in the third inning by Colby's Rhys Cornell.

"I didn't think Austen was exceptionally sharp, but he had big pitches when he had to and that's what he's been doing for us this season," Gilliland said. "He's a competitor. Without his best stuff, he still gave us a chance to win."

Cloud County took an early 1-0 lead on the Trojans when the T-Birds executed a double-steal.

Freshman outfielder Clayton Loranger led off the game with a walk, and stood at third following a one-out single by redshirt freshman Ramon Vingochea. The ensuing hitter, Vingochea broke for second base and was thrown out on his stolen base attempt, but Loranger was able to scamper home with the game's first run in front of the return throw home.

Hofmann was then able to keep the Cloud County offense silent until the sixth inning when Dietel hammered a two-out home run to left field.

Dietel, who homered twice on Thursday to take over the team lead with four on the season, crushed a hanging 3-2 fastball from Hofmann just one pitch after a pop up just made its way into the Colby dugout for a foul ball.

"It starts with the fact that he wants to be in those situations. He wants to take those at-bats with the game on the line," said Gilliland of Dietel, who also hit a late go-ahead, three-run home run last Sunday against Colby.  "He certainly has the ability to do those things and he wants to be the guy, which is half the battle. He checks that box for sure."

Unfortunately for the T-Birds, they were unable to sustain the momentum of the Game One win in the night cap as they fell by a 9-3 final.

It was an off-brand type of game for Cloud County, which entered the day tied with the second best fielding percentage in the KJCCC at .969 and the fourth best team ERA at 4.02.

The T-Birds committed three errors in Game Two and struggled to put away innings on the mound, allowing nine runs on 12 hits.

"We didn't get a good start on the mound and we were probably due for one of those since that was the first time this season we didn't really get a somewhat quality start," Gilliland said. "It put us in a hole we didn't really play our style of baseball in that game. Hopefully we can put that behind us."

The Birds' offense was limited to three runs of five hits by the Colby pitching duo of Peyton Ingalls and Ethan Francis.

Cloud County scored its first run in the fourth inning when Kade Wallace led off with a triple off the wall and came home on a RBI groundout by freshman Davis Pratt.

The T-Birds would then add two runs in the sixth on Dietel's second home run of the day, and a RBI single by freshman Connor Laux, giving him a team-high 18 driven in, to get back within five at 8-3.

Cloud County had the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth with a chance to get back in the ballgame, but Francis was able to induce a groundout by Loranger to end the threat.

"I thought Colby pitched it really well. Their guys made big pitches when they needed to and they threw two pretty dang good guys at us," Gilliland said. "We didn't have the best at-bats throughout the day and I don't think we swung the bats particularly well all day long."

Dietel finished 2-for-5 with the home run and a double, while Wallace was 2-for-3 with two runs scored to lead the offense.

The two teams will resume their four-game set at 1 p.m. Saturday in Colby as the T-Birds take aim at their third straight KJCCC West series victory.

"We have to be ready for a battle now with the series even and going to their place," Gilliland said. "We need quality starts, get back to the way we play and be ready to go Saturday."