STARKVILLE — Khal Stephen joined his family for dinner fresh off an intense basketball practice.

His brother, Khayne, was on the varsity while Khal played junior varsity. The teams shared a practice gym so there wasn't a lot of privacy. Gathered around a table inside their Indiana home six years ago, Khayne figured he’d bring up what he saw and overheard.

“Hey, what was going on during practice,” Khayne asked. “Your coach was screaming and yelling at you guys. What did you guys do?”

Khal was confused at first. But as Khayne added details, Khal realized what his brother was referring to.

“Eh, he wasn’t yelling at us,” Khal responded. “He was educating us on how not to suck.”

His mother, Kris, looked at Khal, seeking clarity on the stunning response.

“We were not dribbling and doing things right, so he had to teach us like we were little kids,” Khal explained.

That practice created displeasure from some players and their parents, but that wasn’t the case for Khal.

He viewed it as a learning moment – a testament to what has molded Mississippi State baseball’s right-handed ace.

Mississippi State (38-21), as the No. 2 seed, will face No. 3 seed St. John's (37-16-1) on Friday (6 p.m., ESPN+) at the Charlottesville Regional of the NCAA Tournament with Khal expected to start. No. 1 seed Virginia (41-15) is the host while Penn (24-23) is the No. 4 seed.

Khal Stephen has ‘no slow gear’

Perhaps it’s the result of being the youngest of three siblings (Khal, Khayne, Khade) but Khal doesn’t want anyone to beat him in anything.

He wants to be the first to the car. He wants to hit the ball farther. He wants to tie his shoe faster. If he’s bowling with his family or taking part in an annual fishing competition against his mom, he wants to win.

“Khal is very competitive,” Kris said. “That has started from the time he was able to walk to where he’s at now.”

One Sunday while Khal was in the fourth grade, he and his family went over to a friend’s home for dinner. As Mark, his father, left to pick up pizza, he noticed Khal riding a caged go-kart.

Mark told Khal to be careful while he was gone. On his way back, he got a call from his wife.

“You need to get back here right away,” Kris said. “We think Khal broke his arm.”

While doing spinouts, the go-kart tipped. When Khal stuck his left arm out, the cage crashed down onto it.

Khal was entering his first year with a new travel team. The season was set to begin in mid-March, but he likely wouldn’t be ready to play until May.

As the start of the season arrived, his recovery was on pace. He was cleared to play light catch. A few days later, he was the starting shortstop making diving plays on opening day.

“He has no slow gear,” Mark said.

He played with a guard on his arm, forcing him to wear long sleeves in the summer heat. As the season progressed, the time arrived to surgically remove the rods from his arm. However, the recovery would sideline him.

“We’ll just leave them in until I absolutely have to before (youth) football starts,” he told his parents.

Khal Stephen’s edge evident in at-bat vs. Georgia

A scuffle between Mississippi State and Georgia led to a number of ejections in the eighth inning of an April 6 matchup. With the game tied, MSU coach Chris Lemonis and his staff were desperate to fill holes.

“Khal was just like salivating,” pitching coach Justin Parker said. “Some guys were hiding in the bathroom or not making eye contact.”

Khal, after throwing 6⅔ innings the night before, entered to play left field and hit second. Mississippi State trailed 3-2 with one on and two outs as his turn to hit for the first time in three years arrived.

“Dude, I’m really going to hit right now,” he thought to himself.

As his family watched from Phoenix where their hometown team Purdue was playing in the Final Four, he struck out.

“I was more pissed at the end of that game getting out than giving up a home run,” Khal said. “I was so mad I didn’t get a hit.”

What changed for Khal Stephen at Mississippi State

From Lemonis and Parker, who previously coached the Hoosiers, to pitcher Nate Dohm, who grew up just outside Indianapolis, there are plenty of ties to Indiana at Mississippi State. So when Khal went into the transfer portal after two years at Purdue – entering his name on the last day – he became a priority for the Bulldogs.

Many teams pursued Khal by praising his talent and promising a Friday starting spot.

Mississippi State didn’t. Instead, Parker acknowledged where he felt Khal needed to improve.

“He wasn’t trying to feed him a different menu that he wasn’t trying to eat,” Mark said.

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Parker saw an opportunity to improve lower-body mechanics while splitting Khal’s off-speed pitch into two – a separate curveball and slider. The adjustments dipped Khal’s ERA from 5.21 as a sophomore at Purdue to 3.38 in his first season at an SEC school.

How did Parker know Khal would be open to criticism and change? He recruited Khal, the son of Indiana farmers, out of high school – an age in which Khal’s coachability was clear even at dinner.

“You could tell immediately there’s a toughness there,” Parker said. “There’s a self-made player there.”

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Khal Stephen: How Purdue transfer is Mississippi State baseball's ace