New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz closed out its final home games of the regular season Friday with its sixth-straight SUNYAC sweep, taking care of visiting Potsdam in a combined 11 innings played.
 
The Hawks (26-10 overall, 13-1 SUNYAC) earned the game one win in five innings, 8-0, before winning 13-4 in game two in six innings played. SUNY New Paltz honored its three seniors to the game in Juliet Bernstein, Jillian Harrison and Sydney Bonewit in between games and all three were pivotal in the win.
 
"It felt great to get these two wins for these seniors," said Hawks junior first baseman Jillian Shelbourne. "We really needed it. Our three seniors are absolutely amazing, so we knew as a team today and the whole weekend, we were just going to play for the seniors and get the wins for them."
 
SUNY New Paltz out-hit the Bears 26-8 on the day and held the visitors to just two hits in game one, which took less than an hour. Lindsay Roman earned the win as she pitched the first four innings, improving to 15-2 after allowing just one hit, no walks with six strikeouts.
 
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning with the Hawks ultimately putting a seal on the win scoring eight runs in the frame. Sydney Bonewit got the stretch started with a lead-off walk. SUNY New Paltz then rattled off seven-straight singles by Juliet Bernstein, Jaycee Filancia, Emmie Mae Cabrera, Jillian Harrison, Isabella Shepherd, Rhionna Bianchini and Jackie Rometp, which produced eight runs to give the Hawks an 8-0 lead.
 
 
Jillian Harrison pitched the last inning to close out the shutout, giving up just a hit two ground outs and a flyout. Rometo led the way offensively, going 2-for-3 with one run and two RBI. Bonewit went 1-for-1 with a run an RBI and walk.
 
Potsdam took a 1-0 lead to start game two with the Hawks answering in the bottom half, as Jillian Shelbourne laid down a sacrifice bunt to plate Bianchini and Bonewit scored Rometo on an RBI base hit to center.
 
The Bears took a 4-2 lead in the third, but the Hawks stemmed another rather backed by a solo home run bomb that hit off the scoreboard to cut the score, 4-3.
 
"I did not think it was over off the bat," Shelbourne said. "I never think it's over off the bat and then I saw it hit the scoreboard, which I think is very exciting. At the plate I wasn't very nervous. I just kind of took a breath and saw it. I had two strikes, so I knew I had to get my bat on it — I definitely didn't think it was going over."
 
Bonewit followed with a single and was brought home with a sacrifice fly to tie the score at fours. Shelbourne then came through again with runners in scoring position, hitting a two-out RBI single up the middle to bring Rometo home, pushing the Hawks ahead 5-4.
 
"My mentality at that point when I knew we needed a hit was just to stay calm and stay very within myself within the box," Shelbourne said. "When we try too hard at the plate it really never works, so just to stay calm and know that I can put the ball in play, and I can do what my team needs."
 
SUNY New Paltz piled on in the final two innings. Rometo helped put an end to the game early, forcing an error on a pop up that was dropped, leading to the last two runs.
 
Bonewit went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI with Bianchini going 2-for-3 with two runs and a walk. Rometo hit 2-for-5 with two runs and four RBI, while Shelbourne finished another solid day at the plate, hitting 2-for-3 with a run and three RBI. Harrison was given the win after pitching the final three innings, allowing no hits, no runs with three strikeouts.
 
The Hawks improved to 26-10 overall and are one win away from tying the program record in wins, as they bumped their SUNYAC mark to 13-1, remaining in first in the league standings.
 
"During our winning streak of 16 games now it is, I really think our defense is very solid," Shelbourne said. "That's clicked since the beginning of the season. That's been very smooth and there's a lot of chemistry on the field and also our offense the past 16 games we've been getting the key hits, which is what we've struggled with towards the beginning of the season like in Florida, so now getting the key hits when we really need them is what we've focused on and what we've really improved on."
 
SUNY New Paltz have two more series left on its regular season schedule before claiming the top seed in the SUNYAC, starting with Buffalo State May 5.
 
"It would mean everything to get a few games on this field, especially for our seniors and one of our seniors being Jill Harrison who is from New Paltz to just host SUNYAC's here and bring the tournament here get more wins on our home turf," Shelbourne said.

Post-Game Featuring Jillian Shelbourne


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