A decade of winning in Flower Mound has created one of the state’s best baseball rivalries

FLOWER MOUND — It was really all that Danny Wallace had to see when he’d been hired to coach Flower Mound’s baseball team 11 years ago.

“The first thing I saw was Bakersfield,” Wallace said. “The kids here are kind of introduced to it.”

Bakersfield Park is an eight-field youth baseball complex in Flower Mound. It’s a sprawling proving ground of hardball, one described by the Flower Mound Youth Sports Association as a “surreal environment.”

One that, in the town of Flower Mound, isn’t necessarily on its own.

“There’s more baseball fields than there are football fields, basketball courts, soccer fields,” Flower Mound Marcus coach Jeff Sherman said. “I think when you come here, and the youth leagues and how they organize it and develop that, it creates the expectation that this place, Flower Mound and Marcus, has become what it is today.”

Flower Mound, a Dallas suburb in the Lewisville ISD school zone, lies in the heart of Texas’ strongest high school baseball region, one that’s produced five state champions since 2014. The town’s two high schools — Flower Mound and Flower Mound Marcus — have been at the center of it.

Since Wallace and Sherman were both hired by their respective schools in 2012, the two have combined for 13 seasons with 25 wins or more. Each has climbed into national rankings. Each has been a threat, in any given year, to chase a state championship. Each has produced countless high major college players.

“You can turn on a TV on a Saturday and watch college baseball, and there’s a good chance you’ll see a Flower Mound kid playing for a big-time program,” Wallace said. “It forces a kid to dream. The culture is very real.”

It’s helped create a crosstown rivalry unlike many in the state of Texas.

“We’re trying to be better than them every single game of district,” Marcus senior Caden Sorrell said. “We see them doing good, and we want to be better. Every game we play, it’s just maximum intensity. We want to lay it all out there, we want to be No. 1. We want to be the best in the area.”

Since the start of district play in mid March, only Flower Mound and Marcus have been No. 1 in the area. Flower Mound (23-5-2, 8-1 District 6-6A) is the No. 1 team in The Dallas Morning News’ area 6A rankings. Marcus (21-6-1, 6-3), which had held the top spot since the start of district play, is ranked second. The two split their regular season series in March; Flower Mound won game one 5-1, Marcus won game two 6-3.

Since 2013, Marcus leads the rivalry series 14-12.

“Both of our expectations, from the top down, is we want to be the last man standing,” said Sherman, a Marcus alum. “I don’t know if every program can sit there and honestly, by conviction, say that.”

One community to Flower Mound’s east might throw its hat into the ring, The closest comparison in Dallas-Fort Worth is the city of Rockwall, whose high school baseball teams — Rockwall and Rockwall-Heath — are both perennial contenders. Rockwall is ranked third in The News’ area 6A rankings; Heath is ranked fourth. The two have played in the last two 6A Region II finals. Heath has won both series.

“We take a lot of pride in [the fact that] we’re Heath, and they’re Rockwall,” Heath coach Greg Harvey told The News last June. “We want to go and beat each other, the rivalry is huge. They’re orange, and we’re red and black. We don’t like orange and they don’t like red and black.”

Swap out orange, red and black for some navy and gray, and voila, there’s Flower Mound.

“If you’re the king, they’re going to try to take the king off,” Sherman said. “If you aren’t the king, you know what I mean, we’re going to try and take you off. When you are the two that are always there, that is something that is very [special].”

Marcus has worn the crown lately with an 8-2 record versus its rival since 2018 and a third-round playoff series win against Flower Mound in 2017. Flower Mound maintains the largest bragging rights though. It beat Marcus in the 2014 5A Region I finals, then went on to win the program’s only state title against San Antonio Reagan.

“They were the best team we played in the playoffs that year,” Wallace said of Marcus. “I remember the week of it thinking, ‘Whoever wins this is going to win states.’ So not only are you going to be bummed out if you lose and don’t get to go to state, you’re going to have to hear about it forever.”

Sherman can corroborate the latter.

“Our guys still talk about 2014 even though we lost,” he said. “They won, and they can always hold that above water.”

It’s not impossible that the two play again in this year’s postseason, either in the regional quarterfinals (third round) or the regional finals (fifth round).

“That would be the best,” Sherman said. “It would be the best, one, for the community, but the best would be for the kids to have that experience. They have the firepower to do it — who’s going to be the toughest team?”

Flower Mound, like Wallace said, has that firepower. Its Tuesday starter (TCU pledge Zack James) and its Friday starter (Oklahoma pledge Jacob Gholston) are both Power Five commits. So, too, is the heart of its lineup with junior catcher Zane Becker (Arkansas), junior outfielder Sam Erickson (Texas A&M), junior infielder Adrian Rodriguez (Texas A&M) and junior infielder Josh Glaser (Texas State).

“In Dallas-Fort Worth, it’s a necessity to have that,” Wallace said. “There’s so many teams in D-FW that have such really talented players. Without it, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Erickson is hitting .402. While Angelo State pledge Ryder McDaniel (.373), Glaser (.324) and Becker (.309) are each swinging it well. Gholston (6-1, 0.66 ERA) and James (5-1, 1.81 ERA) have anchored a Flower Mound pitching staff that allows just over two runs per game.

Flower Mound has a plus-55 run differential in District 6-6A play. Only Marcus has scored more than one run against them.

“Man, compared to the last few years, [the pitching] is way better,” Becker said. “It’s kind of hard to score runs off of them.”

Marcus might scoff a bit at that. Sorrell, a Texas A&M signee, is a bona fide star. An all-area honoree in 2022, Sorrell is hitting .323 with 7 home runs and 23 RBI. He spent part of his offseason focused on pitching, and has a 1.05 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 46.2 innings. Dozens of MLB scouts and executives attend his games.

Baseball America lists Sorrell as the No. 48 high school prospect in the upcoming MLB draft.

“He’s our bell cow, he’s our ring leader,” Sherman said. “I think every team circles him and says, ‘That guy can’t beat you.’ We have a ton of scouts that come here every day, a ton of GMs. But with that said, he comes up and shows up to work. He doesn’t say much, he doesn’t want much. All he wants is to win.”

Past Sorrell, Marcus’ lineup isn’t littered with high-major signees unlike years past, and unlike its counterparts atop the who’s-who list in Dallas-Fort Worth baseball.

Senior leadoff hitter Nick Mazzola (.400) is uncommitted. Catcher Van Klein (.267, 10 RBIs) is headed to play at Air Force. Shortstop Hank Harp (.278, 15 runs scored) will play at Navarro Junior College. Andrew Hunt, who bats toward the bottom of Marcus’ lineup, is committed to Wallace State. Sorrell pitches on Fridays; Tuesday starter Logan Boertje (2.52 ERA, 30 strikeouts) is committed to play at Blinn College. The rest of Marcus’ regular starters are uncommitted.

Stack both rosters next to each other and there’s a stark difference.

But when the two teams play?

“It does not matter,” Sherman said. “Doesn’t matter who has the talent. Who’s going to step up when it matters the most? It might be the guy who’s going to be a frat boy next year at Oklahoma — on either team, it doesn’t matter.”

That might be the keystone of this decade-long battle.

“Rivalries are good for competition,” Wallace said. “It’s Texas-OU football. It’s Ohio State-Michigan. It’s the Yankees and Red Sox. If you’re not ready to go the very next year, you’ll get knocked off.”

Flower Mound vs. Marcus, by the year

On Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn

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