ANDERSON, S.C. - The Anderson University softball team opens its final four-game homestand of the season by welcoming South Atlantic Conference opponent Brevard to the Electric City on Wednesday. First-pitch at Smethers Field is set for 2 p.m.

The Trojans
Anderson (31-11, 12-6 SAC) is alone in second place in the South Atlantic Conference standings and is two games behind league-leading Carson-Newman with four contests remaining in the regular season. The Trojans are one game ahead of preseason league favorite Wingate, while four games separate first place from sixth place as the conference season winds down.

The Trojans have won four of their last six decisions and are an impressive 16-2 at home on the season, while coming off a sweep of Queens in Charlotte last Saturday that saw senior Rebecca Martin go 3-for-5 on the day. She posted a single and a bases-loaded double in the nightcap. Freshman Cailah Niles boosted her league-leading home run tally to 16 with a pair of round-trippers versus the Royals, while finishing the nightcap with two runs scored and three RBI.

Junior Molly Child hammered her sixth home run of the season in the first inning of the opener and finished with two RBI, while freshman Rachael Barefield also drove in two runs with a first inning single and added another single and a walk. Senior Bri Cason was 2-for-4 in the opener and crossed the plate once.

Behind Niles' league-leading home run total and senior Jessica Neidigh's career-best 11 round-trippers, the Trojans are 17th in the nation by averaging 1.12 home runs per game. Neidigh leads the Trojans and ranks fourth in the conference with her .422 batting average. The second baseman paces the SAC in runs scored (48), hits (62) and total bases (109), while ranking in the top six in the league in five additional offensive categories.

Niles is third nationally in home runs, while holding the sixth spot in the country with 55 RBI. The native of Phenix City, Ala., is 11th in RBI per game (1.31/gm) nationally and eighth in home runs per contest (0.38). Niles is second in the conference with her .779 slugging performance after clubbing a pair of home runs last weekend at Queens and is just one home run shy of equaling former Trojan standout Kayla Williams' single-season school record for homers in a season, which was set in 2006. She is already tied for fifth in league history with the 16 home runs.

Child saw her 10-game hitting streak come to an end in the second game at Queens, but is hitting .331 on the season and has reached base safely in 27 consecutive games. The center fielder is eighth in the league with a team-best 10 doubles on the year and is second on the squad with 32 runs scored and 17 walks. Child also ranks third on the team in slugging percentage (.532), hits (46), RBI (29), home runs (6) and total bases (74).

Freshman Chelsea Jones is hitting .320 on the season and is tied for sixth in the league with 21 free passes, with fellow freshman Carli Hurtado batting .302 on the season. The speedy shortstop is a perfect 13-for-13 in stolen bases on the season, while Neidigh is 14-of-15 and sophomore Courtney Czentnar has been caught just twice in 12 attempts on the base paths to help lead the Trojans to second place in the SAC standings with 40 thefts as a team.

Jones and sophomore Lauren Rudesheim are both tied for sixth in the league with 12 wins apiece, while Jones ranks fifth in the SAC in both strikeouts (104) and strikeouts per game (7.53/gm). The right-hander has issued just 17 walks in 96 2/3 innings of work and is holding opponents to a .219 batting-average-against, which is the fifth-best in the conference. Rudesheim is eighth in the league with more than 117 innings worked in the circle and ranks third with 29 appearances. The sophomore hurler has 12 complete games to her credit, while tossing three shutouts.

The Tornados
Brevard (9-21, 2-14 SAC) was a preseason pick to finish ninth in the South Atlantic Conference in a poll of the league's coaches after finishing sixth last season with a record of 11-9 within the conference and a 22-25 overall mark.

Senior third baseman Casey Whitaker earned Preseason Second-Team All-South Atlantic Conference honors as the designated player. The Spartanburg, S.C., native recorded six home runs and hit .302 last season.

Junior hurler Jamie Hrobak has been named AstroTurf South Atlantic Conference Pitcher of the Week twice this season, first earning the honor in mid-February. She appeared in four contests while picking up two wins and a save. She began the week with a complete-game, 15 strikeout performance on the road at Montreat and continued her success in Brevard's sweep of Lees-McRae.

For the week, Hrobak went 2-0 with a save in four appearances. She recorded 38 strikeouts and allowed six hits in 18.1 innings of work, maintaining a 0.00 ERA and allowing opponents to hit just .098 against her.

Hrobak also garnered the accolade two weeks ago, after leading the Tornados to a 2-2 week. The right-hander tossed nine scoreless innings in BC's extra-inning win over Tusculum and struck out 13 Pioneer batters. She also earned a win in her other start of the week, in which she gave up a run on three hits in a complete-game win over Queens. Hrobak was 2-0 on the week, with a 0.33 ERA in 21 innings pitched. She gave up a run on nine hits, issued three walks, and had 26 strikeouts while allowing opponents to hit just .134.

The Tornados are 5-16 away from home this season and have dropped eight of their last nine decisions.

The Series vs. Brevard
The Trojans and Tornados have met just 10 times on the diamond, with all but two of the meetings occurring as South Atlantic Conference rivals. Anderson has won six of the last eight matchups, including sweeps of the 2012 and 2013 regular-season doubleheaders. AU and Brevard split last year's twin bill, with the Tornados claiming the opener by a 4-1 count and the Trojans bouncing back with a 14-3 triumph in the nightcap.

In a rare occurrence while playing on their home field last season, the Trojans were the visiting team on the scoreboard because the game was originally slated to be played at Brevard, but was moved due unplayable field conditions in the Tar Heel State.

Czentnar was 3-for-4 in the nightcap, with a pair of singles and her 11th home run of the season. She drove in a pair of runs and scored three times. Neidigh tallied three singles, two RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Child blasted her second grand slam of the season. Cason extended her hitting streak to eight games with a fourth-inning RBI-single, while garnering a first-inning walk.