JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's (26-14, 8-6 South Atlantic Conference) doubleheader with Mars Hill (21-11, 9-5 SAC) has been moved up a day to Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. to avoid a forecast rife with thunderstorms Thursday.

The Eagles sit in sixth place in the league standings, two games back of first and a game back of the Lions, Lenoir-Rhyne, Catawba and third place. 

"Our conference is so tough, anytime you go out from that first conference game, it could determine your seeding," Carson-Newman head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield said. "I don't think the pressure is getting to us, but we have to finish and be ready for Mars Hill."

Carson-Newman's junior shortstop Brittany Hefner (Talbot, Tenn.) sits on the cusp of rewriting the conference and school record books.  She rests an RBI away from matching C-N's Staci Fish's 12-year-old single season mark of 72. 

Hefner has already clubbed out 18 homeruns this year – a school record by six and tied for second most in a single year in conference history.  She needs five more bombs to match the single season conference record set by Kat Rives of Lenoir-Rhyne in 2010. 

Kazee-Hollifield said bats such as Hefner's will have to continue to be superb if the Eagles are to have success in their final two SAC series before the conference tournament. 

"We're trying to out hit people right now," Kazee-Hollifield said. "Hopefully (the Lions) won't light things up and we can outscore them."

The Lions are led by Robyn Stanek and her .421 batting average – the third best tally in the SAC. 

"Stanek, their third baseman, is swinging a good bat right now," Kazee-Hollifield said. "But if you look at teams that have hurt us, we're getting beat in the bottom half of the lineup.  We've got to play tough one through nine because we're surrendering triples to kids that are hitting .194."

As a team, Mars Hill is a bit of an oddity statistically.  The Lions rank third in the league in team batting average (.303), but are third from the bottom in runs scored (146). 

On the flip side, the Lions 66 earned runs allowed are the lowest total in the league. 

First pitch Wednesday is set for 2:30 p.m.  A win in the series guarantees Carson-Newman a spot in the SAC tournament.

-CN-