🐻 The Official Daily Newsletter For Baylor Athletics

Happy Friday Baylor Faithful. While you may be trying to squeeze in every last bit of summer, our Bears are preparing to make some noise in 2023-24.

Not only in their sport, but also in the classroom and in the community.

Our Bears have proven over the years that the BU experience is far more than just games and championships, and that impact extends far past graduation.

We’ve got those details and much more!

What else is stirring in today’s Brew? Check it out below!

🤝 Helping Hands
⚾️ Head Of Their Class
👏 Teamwork At Its Finest
🐻 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔺 Helping Hands. At the heart of BU are the people.

Our people look out for each other and serve the community around them and that’s exactly what Brittney Griner continues to do, years after her departure from Waco.

Griner received the WNBA Cares Community Assist Award for the month of June. It’s the second time in her career that she’s received the honor.

The award honors Griner’s efforts in championing the safe return of wrongful detainees overseas and continued contributions to help marginalized communities in the Phoenix area.

Since rejoining the Mercury in February 2023, Griner has teamed with Bring Our Families Home, an organization that works with families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained to spread awareness about their cases. Griner and the Mercury have hosted families and friends through this program at Mercury games in Phoenix and around the country when the team visits other markets.

🔺 Head Of Their Class. The Baylor baseball team truly puts the word “student” in student-athlete.

BU was one of 130 Division I baseball programs to received the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award this week.

As a team, the Bears posted a 3.23 cumulative GPA in the 2022-23 academic year. BU has now earned this prestigious team honor in EIGHT consecutive seasons

🔺 Partnering With Pros. The Baylor experience is far beyond the athletics walls.

BU student-athletes are able to work with some of the most talented individuals in their professions, including our friends over at the Baylor PT school.

Ya know, playing hoops isn’t the only way to the NBA and Zach Lowe proved that as the Baylor grad spent several years with multiple NBA organizations, including his current position as the Head Strength Coach for the Sacramento Kings, one of the NBA’s upcoming rosters.

Learn more about this story and a group that BU student-athletes have access to and can work with during their time in Waco.

🔺 Stable Schedule. With five home meets and the Big 12 Championship on tap, the Baylor equestrian squad is looking forward to an exciting 2023-24 season.

This week, the full equestrian schedule was released, offering plenty of opportunities to catch the Bears in action.

🔺 Heading To The Hoosier State. That’s exactly what the Indiana Pacers are hoping to find out as they’ve signed former Bear Kendall Brown to a two-way contract for the second straight season.

Brown, who only spent his freshman season in Waco, averaged 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds during the 2021-2022 campaign. He earned Big 12 All-Rookie team accolades during that year as well.

He was drafted in the second round of last year’s NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who eventually traded his draft rights to the Pacers a few weeks later.

The Cottage Grove, Minnesota native played sparingly last year in the Pacers organization, but dealt with injuries sidelined him and kept him off the court.

🔺 Max-imum Effort. Welp, that’s a sight that Baylor fans are used to.

For three seasons, Bears fans watched plenty of balls launched way over the outfield fence at Baylor Ballpark by Max Muncy.

Over 10 years later, Muncy is still up to his old tricks.

Now in his eighth MLB season, the Midland, Texas native is on a tear recently, hitting four HRs and driving in 12 RBIs this week for the Dodgers, who have now surged, winning 12 of their past 20 and now sit as the second-best team in the National League.

The four HRs this week have now given Muncy four seasons of 25+ HRs with the Dodgers. He sits at 169 career long balls at the MLB level.

In the long storied history of the Dodgers franchise, Muncy is now just the eighth Dodger ever to have four seasons of 25+ HRs for the Boys in Blue.

🔺 For the Kids. Our Bears have been busy impacting future generations this week!

On Monday morning, student-athletes from the women’s basketball, football, volleyball, equestrian and acrobatics/tumbling squads all spent time at MELA Camp, which is run by the Baylor School of Education.

Through the use of numbers and mind games, the Bears helped the kids learn through sports and activities.

“Education is the investment current generations make into impacting the lives of generations to come.”

🏀 WE WORKIN’

🏀 SECURE YOUR SEATS

🔺 Secure Your Seats. Winners of 12 of the past 13 Big 12 Championships. 19 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. 308 wins over the past 10 seasons.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg of the success that the Baylor women’s program has put on display in recent years.

That success has turned into crowds of 5,000+ per night at the Ferrell Center, so make sure to secure your seats today with your Baylor Women’s Basketball season tickets.

You don’t want to miss what will surely be another exciting year for the Green and Gold.

🏈 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 36 DAYS

36 tackles.
5.5 TFLs.
4.5 sacks.
1 Fumble Recovery.
1 Blocked Kick.

That’s what we call a breakout season and that’s exactly what Gabe Hall put on display last fall and he’s hungry for much more this year.

The All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honoree last season made an impact on the defensive line in 2022 and this year, returns as one of the key leaders of the defensive unit.

In the past two years, Hall has played in all 26 games, racking up 59 tackles and 10.5 sacks.

We can’t wait to see what Gabe has in store for 2023.

🗓 SAVE THE DATE

Get it on your calendar now fans.

This event is one of the must attend on the Baylor Athletics calendar and we can’t wait to see everyone back at McLane Stadium next month for our annual “Meet the Bears” day.

Get a sneak peek at the rosters for the upcoming season. Meet student-athletes from 14 different sports. Snap some pictures. Get some autographs and get some cool prizes!

You don’t want to miss it!

⏱ BEAR (COUNT)DOWN

20 Days. That’s right folks.

We are just 20 days away from the start of the 2023-2024 Baylor athletic calendar. The Baylor women’s squad kicks things off (literally) when they travel to Oregon to take on the Ducks on August 17th at 9 pm CST.

Two weeks later, the soccer, volleyball, cross country and football teams are ALL in action. Block off that weekend and make sure you’ve got the Green and Gold ready!

Order those shirts. Secure those tickets. 

The Bears are coming.

🤔 SIC ’EM TRIVIA

20+ Club. We are less than a month away from the start of the 2023 Baylor volleyball season.

A season loaded with excitement, expectations and talent.

The Bears have continued to make noise not only in the Big 12, but also on the national scene.

Entering 2023, BU will look to continue its streak of 20+ win seasons.

How many consecutive 20+ seasons do the Bears have currently?

Think you’ve got it? 

Scroll down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Baylor Brew? Well, the first thing you should do is thank them. The next thing you should do is subscribe here and get it in your inbox every weekday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

📅 COMING SOON

Wednesday, August 16

🏐 Green vs. Gold Game @ Ferrell Center

Thursday, August 31

⚽ Soccer vs. Louisiana Tech @ 7:00pm CT (Home Opener) | Tickets

Saturday, September 2

🏈 Football vs. Texas State @ 6:00pm CT on ESPN+ | Tickets

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Seven.

A 22-12 record in 2016 started a streak of seven consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins that included a 29-2 mark in 2019, when the Bears marched all the way to the National Semifinals.

🐻 Have a great Friday, ya’ll!