PLATTSBURGH — A historic 2025-26 school year for the Bolton boys’ sports program came to a difficult end Saturday.
Section II’s Duanesburg pushed across a run in the top of the seventh inning and edged the Section VII champions (15-4) 1-0 in a NYSPHSAA Class D regional baseball final at Plattsburgh High School.
Bolton was that close to advancing to the Final Four after winning the Class D state title in basketball this winter.
Saturday’s game featured a pitching duel between Duanesburg’s Ayden Fall and Bolton’s Jace Hubert.
Fall went the distance for the win, allowing three hits, no walks and striking out seven. Facing only one batter over the minimum the first 6.1 innings, retiring the first 11 batters and not walking anyone was a key factor.
“He seemed to be crafty,” Bolton coach Dan Sheridan said. “We’ve seen that kind of speed before, and we’ve seen his pitches. Our boys were definitely hitting the ball, but he was getting ground balls and pop-ups.”
Hubert, meanwhile, went six shutout innings. He surrendered just one hit, walked eight and fanned seven. And despite walking eight, Hubert kept the ball down and avoided hard contact.
“As I have said many times, I’ve had Jace since he was a seventh grader on modified, and I pulled him up on the varsity when I came up,” Sheridan said. “I’ve been his only baseball coach for his whole middle- and high-school career.
“I’ve never met a better kid on and off the field, and to have him starting today was huge.”
It was a scoreless game through six innings. Duanesburg got the first two aboard in the top of the sixth, but Hubert fanned the bottom three hitters in the line-up to avoid trouble.
With Hubert approaching the pitch count limit, John Roemer took over in the seventh. With one out, Jacob Reese singled, went to second when Collin Lussier was hit by a pitch and scored from second when he took third on a short, wild pitch, crossing the plate when the throw to third got away.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to give up that run,” Sheridan said. “We knew it was going to come down to one run as we progressed through the game.”
Bolton, however, threatened in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, William Hens singled and Jacob French followed with a single to right. Hens tried to go to third on the play, and it took a perfect relay to cut him down on a close play for the second out of the inning. Fall then got a strikeout to end it.
“We had been hitting the ball all day, but it hadn’t been falling for us,” Sheridan said. “Our guys came out, got a runner on and then just a bang-bang play at third that didn’t go our way that time.
“So even in the end, we had a runner on second and still an opportunity. But that’s the way baseball goes, I’m super proud of the guys. They’ve had a heck of a career season, and I wish Duanesburg the best as they move forward.”
Jacob Reese had the lone two hits for Duanesburg. Hens had two hits and French the other for Bolton.
Both teams played outstanding defense in the game, with only one combined error in the contest.
French, Hubert, Andy Morehouse, Thomas Williams, Hens, Liam Foy and John Roemer comprised a senior-laden class for Bolton with most of them playing on the state title basketball team, as well.
“We’re losing seven seniors, so that is going to be a lot of holes to fill there,” Sheridan said. “But I’ve got a young crew of kids who are hungry, and they’ve had the experience now. They’ve been here, so we’re going to try and avoid the whole idea of a rebuilding year.”
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Duanesburg 1, Bolton 0
DCS;000;000;1;—;1;2;0
BCS;000;000;0;—;0;3;1
Fall and Lussier. Hubert, J. Roemer (7) and Morehouse. WP- Fall. LP- J. Roemer.