Kankakee, Ill. - The Elgin Community College split in a pair of games on the first day of Region 4 Quarterfinals on Friday.

The Spartans move on to play Saturday with the win over Highland.

Game One: Highland 5, ECC 8

Nick Weaver registered two runs and two RBI as Charlie Jury tallied three RBI with a single and a double.

Daniel Kinney pitched seven innings and recorded five strikeouts. Aidan Stratton pitched 1.2 with one strikeout and Noah Schlup earned the save by getting the final out of the game.

Weaver led off the first with a triple and scored on Jack Kerno's double. Jury hit an RBI single for the second run of the inning.

Highland scored one run in the top of the second.

Chris Lara grounded into fielder's coice and stole second. Weaver's one-run single increased the advantage to 3-1 after two innings.

Daniel Blickhan walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Collins' single to right field. Collins made it to second on Lara's sacrifice and scored on Weaver's single to lead 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

The Cougars scored two in the sixth inning to tighten the game up to 5-3.

Weaver walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on Kerno's pop out. Andrew Flynn doubled to left field to push Weaver home. Aiden Kashuba walked and both scored on Jury's two-run double to make it an 8-3 game after seven innings.

Highland scored two runs before Schlup entered the game with two on base and two outs. The bases were then loaded and Josh Genz got the out at third to win with an 8-5 final score.

The victory guaranteed an advance to day two of the tournament.

Game Two: ECC 4, KCC 8

Edgar Barba made the start and pitched three innings with five strikeouts. Casey Farrell pitched five innings of relief and registered three strikeouts.

The Spartans play Highland on Saturday at 11 a.m. With a win, they play Kankakee in the Championship at 2 p.m.