Top of the Morning. Next week—we celebrate July 4th with fireworks, hot dogs, apple pie and time at the beach. There aren’t many weeks on the calendar where celebrating the stars and bars is at such a high.

Meanwhile this week, three Cowboys are showing their patriotism to the rest of the world this summer and enjoying every minute of it.

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

🥎 One On One: Coach Kenny Gajewski
🏈 Countdown to Kickoff
🤠 And so much more!

🎧 OSU MAX PODCASTS

Coach Kenny Gajewski has had a few weeks to reflect on yet another trip to the WCWS for his program.

And while he’s proud of how this team battled through the ups-and-downs of a season, he has one goal on his mind: “winning it all.”

Coach sat down in our most recent Pokes Pod to reflect on this past spring, talk about what it taught him as a young head coach and what' he’s focused for the future of the Cowgirls.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Coffee, Donuts & Dailey. Don’t get diving into work just yet. Got your coffee? Got your donut (or egg whites for all you healthy folks)? Now let’s get your dose of Dailey.

Incoming Cowboy Eric Dailey Jr. and his Team USA U19 squad wrap up stage play this morning at 8 am. against Lebanon.

Thus far, Team USA is 2-0, with wins over Madagascar (136-69) and Slovenia (77-72). In just over 32 minutes of action total, Dailey has scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds, grabbed four steals, dished out two assists and shot 55-percent from the field.

Dailey and OSU head coach Mike Boynton (Team USA assistant) both sat down this week to talk about the experience and what it’s meant for them to share this time.

🎥: OSU Max: Eric Dailey Jr. and Boynton Talk Team USA U19 Summer

🔼 Earning Her Stars & Stripes. Taking a trip overseas is pretty common for most college graduates. Making those trips to represent your country is not.

Cowgirls star Kelly Maxwell is preparing for her second international competition with Team USA with the 2023 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women's World Cup just a few weeks away.

At the 2023 WBSC World Cup, Maxwell and the top-ranked Americans compete in group stage action from July 11-15 in Dublin, Ireland. The other nations in Team USA's group are Chinese Taipei, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland and Botswana.

A two-time All-American and three-time first-team All-Big 12 honoree, Maxwell ranks among the top left-handed pitchers in the world. She has made four trips with Oklahoma State to the Women's College World Series and was a featured performer on three of those four squads. Over the span of her Cowgirl career, she sports a 1.58 earned run average, has struck out 746 batters in 494.2 innings of work and has limited opponents to a .158 batting average.

🔼 Coach In The Community. There is nothing like seeing the faces of the kids when you give back.

Coach Boynton will have a front row seat to exactly that next month as he joins a select group of Big 12 men's and women's basketball coaches on Tuesday, July 18 to lead youth clinics at world-famous Rucker Park as part of the conference's "Big 12 Hoops in the Park" program.
 
"It's an incredible opportunity for our conference to pour into a community with such a rich basketball tradition. I'm honored to be selected and can't wait to see the type of impact we can have on the youth of my home city,” Boynton, who is a Brooklyn native said.
 
Big 12 Hoops in the Park is made possible through a partnership with New York City Parks, Hard Rock Hotels, Gatorade and WHOOP, which will provide fitness bands for each basketball coach. Following drills and clinic sessions, coaches will participate in a Q&A with participating youth.

🔼 As Hot As Apple Pie. Yeah, yeah, we know that’s not the saying, but go with it here. We have a theme going on.

The ESPN SportsCenter anchors of yesteryear would have said “En Fuego” when talking about the recent stretch of tournaments for OSU golf alums.

This past weekend, Rickie Fowler lit up the golf world yet again by posting a 60 (that’s kind of good) in the third round at the Travelers Championship. He went on to shoot a 16-under for the tournament en route to a T-13 finish. Fowler has now finished in the top-15 in eight of his past nine starts.

In total, there were four former Cowboys in the top-30 at the Travelers Championship. Joining Fowler were Austin Eckroat (13-under, tied for 24th) and Wyndham Clark/Viktor Hovland, who both were 12-under, tied for 29th.

On the DP Tour, Rasmus Neergard-Petersen shined at the BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, shooting a 10-under to finish in the top-10.

It was the pro debut for Neergard-Petersen, who was in contention all weekend.

🏈 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 67 DAYS

He’s Baccckkkkk. That’s right folks, good ol’ No. 67 Cole Birmingham will be back on the gridiron this fall.

The stalwart on the offensive line missed the 2022 season with a knee injury, but enters 2023 healthy and ready to make a difference up front for the Cowboys.

Hailing from Katy, Texas, Birmingham was the only offensive player to start every game in 2021, playing both right guard (3 games) and left tackle (13 games).

He’s played in 18 games for OSU, but battled injuries last year and in 2020. In 2021, he was credited with 21 pancake blocks and 38 knockdowns, which ranked first and second on the team.

🤔 COWBOY TRIVIA

That offense that Cole Birmingham was a part of back in 2021 was pretty special.

As an offense, the Cowboys scored 54 touchdowns and averaged over 31 points per game.

Besides our kicking buddy Tanner Martin, which two Cowboys tied for the team lead in scoring that season? Can you get both or just one?

Think you got it? Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

🎥 OSU MAX

You know growing up how sometimes, when we were playing video games, we had to hit the reset button and start fresh?

That’s exactly what the OSU Cowgirls did heading into this spring’s NCAA Tournament with a team trip to Broken Bow to prepare for a run to the WCWS.

A tough stretch run had the Orange and Black needing a reset, and the weeks to follow proved that reset was exactly what the squad needed.

🎥 OSU Max: The Follow: OSU Softball - A Trip to Broken Bow

📬 STICK WITH US

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🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Tay Martin and Jaylen Warren

The receiver-and-running back duo proved to be an absolute wrecking ball against opposing defenses, each scoring 11 touchdowns on the historic season that saw the Cowboys reach as high as the No. 2 national ranking.

Have a great Tuesday, y’all!