STARKVILLE — Khal Stephen found himself just one out away from six scoreless innings of baseball on the mound against Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.

The right-hander looked to shut the door on what turned into a fantastic outing for him, but trouble arose as two singles from The Mount put runners on the corners with one out.

Luckily, he had some help behind him as third baseman Logan Kohler clinched the scoreless start with a fantastic play down the third-base line fading away from first. 

Stephen showed a lot of emotion coming off the mound, and rightfully so as he bounced back from a brutal outing against Georgia Southern, putting in motion an emphatic series-clinching 7-2 win over the Mountaineers in Saturday’s doubleheader opener.

Like in his first start of the season against Air Force, Stephen shoved on the bump for Mississippi State (7-4), striking out nine and allowing one walk over six shutout innings. 

Mount St. Mary’s (1-8) did tag Stephen for six hits, but he was able to limit the damage effectively as his offense ended up giving him as much as a five-run lead.

It started with a three-run second as a pair of walks came back to bite Mountaineers starter Brendan Yagesh in the form of a two-run ground-rule double from Dylan Cupp.

Dakota Jordan dealt the knockout blow in the seventh with a 422-foot moonshot into the Left Field Lounge, his fourth homer of the season, after a dicy top-half of the inning for MSU. What looked to be a potential outfield assist from Bryce Chance to gun down a runner going home, turned into a disaster, with two runs scoring after an errant throw from reliever Gavin Black.

Luckily, the end result was simply a moot point as Jordan’s homer re-extended the lead to five runs, but it had the potential of swinging momentum Mount St. Mary’s way.

MSU’s bullpen continued Stephen’s strong performance, most notably Luke Dotson, who threw two innings of shutout ball to finish the win off, striking out three.

Aside from Jordan and Cupp, David Mershon finished a homer short of the cycle, going 3-for-4, and Connor Hujsak had a multi-hit game of his own as the offense combined for seven runs on 10 hits.

All told, Saturday’s doubleheader opener secured a third-straight series win to begin the season for Mississippi State with potential for a sweep later in the day.