May 16, 2011
IRVING, Texas - Max Muncy has been named Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office Monday. The honor is the first time Muncy has received a conference weekly award.
Muncy, a sophomore from Keller, Texas, hit .471 (8-for-17) with two home runs, one double, four RBI and four runs last week. He also drew a pair of walks, posted a .526 on-base percentage and a .882 slugging percentage with 15 total bases. He started all four games at first base and extended his hitting streak to seven straight.
Muncy's performance helped the Bears win a series at No. 19 Oklahoma State for the first time since 2003. The series win was the Bears' first on the road over a ranked opponent since taking two of three from Long Beach State in 2006.
In Tuesday's game at No. 10 TCU, Muncy hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning, and he added a RBI single in the ninth to cut the Bears' deficit to one. He also had one of Baylor's two hits in the series opener at Oklahoma State on Friday.
With the Bears on a 14-inning scoreless drought, Muncy drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning of Saturday's game, helping Baylor break out with a seven-run inning on its way to tying the series against OSU. He also doubled leading off the ninth inning.
In Sunday's series finale, Muncy went 4-for-5 and tied the game with a solo home run in the third inning to help Baylor to its 11th comeback win of the season.
With his performance during the week, Muncy moved into top 10 in the Big 12's overall individual rankings in batting average (.333), hits (64), home runs (8), RBI (38), total bases (101), walks (30), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.526.). He improved his batting average in league play to .372, which ranks fourth in the conference, and he tied for the league lead with 58 total bases in Big 12 play. Muncy also ranks third in Big 12 play in on-base percentage (.464) and second in slugging percentage (.617).
Muncy joins Landis Ware (March 7) and Chris Slater (March 14) to give the Bears three different Big 12 Players of the Week in the same season for just the third time in program history. Josh Ford, Michael Griffin and Paul Witt all won the award during the 2004 season, while Dustin Dickerson, Shaver Hansen and Aaron Miller were all honored in 2009.
The Bears close out the 2011 regular season with four consecutive home games. Baylor takes on Dallas Baptist at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before hosting No. 13 Oklahoma for a three-game series Thursday through Saturday.
