Mustang dynasty: Grapevine baseball wins back-to-back state championships
Grapevine and Kingwood Park battled in an offensive, back-and-forth affair in the Class 5A Division II UIL Texas high school baseball state championship.
At every point Grapevine’s offense landed a blow, it seemed the Panthers would retaliate. As the game progressed, the Mustangs drew on their championship experience and maintained their lead, ultimately securing a 9-5 victory and back-to-back state titles on Friday, June 6, at Dell Diamond.
“It’s really special,” said pitcher Sam DuRard, who ended the game with a strikeout. “We’re all going to look back on this years from now and remember a piece of history.”
Grapevine (36-3), ranked No. 1 in the Texas High School Coaches Association Rankings, joins Abilene Cooper, Fort Bend Elkins and Southlake Carroll as the only schools to win consecutive titles in Class 5A or 6A baseball.
“That’s a pretty neat deal,” Grapevine head coach Jimmy Webster said. “... Some of the greatest teams in the history of the state of Texas haven’t been able to do that.”
Grapevine’s offense started strong with four runs in the first two innings. Gianni Corral, Luke Esquivel, Zack Goldstein and Jarrett Boswell drove home runners.
No. 8 Kingwood Park (34-10-1) retaliated, scoring four runs on starting pitcher Luke Esquivel, who dealt with control issues.
Esquivel gave up a single in the third inning, and Grapevine head coach Jimmy Webster turned to senior Benjamin Chen. The lead runner, credited to Esquivel, was brought home.
Now facing a deficit, the Mustang offense had a big inning sparked by a base hit from Brady Boozer.
Goldstein drove Boozer home with a sacrifice fly and Corral plated the go-ahead run with a single through the right side. A well-executed double steal brought home another — from that point on, Chen held the lead with the defense having his back.
Kingwood Park threatened in the fifth, loading the bases, but Grapevine shortstop Connor Ray prevented a run, fielding a ground ball and sending a strong throw to first to barely get the out and end the inning.
Corral continued the defensive heroics in the sixth. He stayed in front of a pitch in the dirt and sent a strong throw to second to catch a runner stealing, which ended the inning.
The Mustangs added two insurance runs in the seventh inning. Ray notched a bloop RBI single to left center, driving in Colin Park, who then came home himself on a pair of wild pitches.
DuRard came on with a runner on and none out in the seventh and the Panthers got runners to second and third. He struck out the final two batters to end the game.
“It was surreal,” DuRard said. “I came on the mound pretty nervous. All I knew is that I had to come in there and ram it in there — to show what I had. And I felt really confident throwing every pitch today.”
The Mustangs rushed from the dugout to partake in a familiar activity — a championship dogpile.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Goldstein. “Especially getting back in that dog pile for another year. It just feels great.”
Chen (10-0) earned the win and the game’s Most Valuable Player honors by shutting down Kingwood Park for four innings. Chen did walk four, hit four batters and only struck out one, but the senior allowed only one hit and no runs, paving the way to a championship.
“He was very competitive,” Webster said. “He also put us in some tough situations that he then pitched out of. So, the end result is, he put up zeros. So, I was really proud of that.”
The Mustangs set high expectations from the start of the season. In the end, they thrived under pressure and, somehow, managed to raise the bar.
“So proud of the fight like we’ve had all year,” Webster said.
This story was originally published June 6, 2025 at 7:32 PM.
.jpg)