Brett Pirtle began the year in a 3-for-24 slump at the plate.

But the Mississippi State second baseman has raised his average nearly 100 points over the last three weeks including drilling a pair of home runs. Pirtle is also has five hits in his last nine at bats officially putting an end to his early season struggle.

"It was a struggle at first but that's baseball," Pirtle said. "You have ups and downs. I picked the worst time to be in a slump but I'm practically out of it. You've got to be able to figure it out and just keep playing ball. Just keep swinging it because you can swing your way out of it any day."

Pirtle broke out of his slump by going 2-for-4 with a double and a home run against Mississippi Valley State on March 5. He doubled off the top of the wall in right field in his first at bat and followed up with a solo shot that wrapped around the right field foul pole.

"It was a relief that it stayed fair," Pirtle said. "I just didn't want it to be foul because I knew it was going out. I was just praying that it would stay fair and luckily it did barely."

This past weekend Pirtle established himself at the Bulldogs starting second baseman by going 4-for-6 with a homer and three RBIs in the final two games against LSU.



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