STARKVILLE, Miss. -- No. 16 Mississippi State perfected its use of the rally cap Friday night/Saturday morning.

In the longest game of the season, MSU erased a 5-0 deficit with a nine-run sixth inning and then erased a three-run extra-inning deficit to knock off Alabama 13-12 in a 13-inning Southeastern Conference baseball game at Dudy Noble Field.

That contest was the second part of a doubleheader. In the opener, MSU erased a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 victory.

Friday's success allowed the Bulldogs to sweep a three-game conference series for the third time this season. MSU won all the games by one run, after also winning 6-5 Thursday night.

MSU will enter the final four weekends of play in possession of at least a tie for the Western Division lead. MSU is 28-14 overall and 13-5 in league play. Alabama is 15-25 and 2-16.

The Bulldogs have won five of the last six series against the longtime rival Crimson Tide.

MSU played its longest game since a 1-0, 14-inning win over Louisiana-Monroe on April 20, 2016. MSU is now 3-1 in extra-inning games this season.

In this contest, the Bulldogs erased a 5-0 deficit by scoring nine times in the sixth inning. The bullpen could not hold things as the Crimson Tide rallied to tie with two runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

MSU was actually no-hit through five innings before collecting seven hits in the sixth inning.

Stovall started things with a double. Jake Mangum followed with an RBI-single. Ryan Gridley walked and Cody Brown had an RBI-double. Elijah MacNamee ripped a two-run single. Dustin Skelton tied things with an RBI-double.

The Bulldogs then grabbed the lead on a two-run home run by Luke Alexander. Tanner Poole would then be hit by pitch and Stovall reached on a fielding error. Mangum followed with an RBI-single, while another error scored the inning's final run.

Alabama built a 12-9 lead by scoring three times in the top half of the 11th inning.

MSU had the answer. Brent Rooker, Gridley and Hunter Vansau had singles to load the bases.

A wild pitch scored one run. Dustin Skelton followed with a sacrifice fly. A dropped pop up on the infield allowed the Bulldogs to score the game-tying run.

In the 13th inning, the Bulldogs got three walks to load the bases. Alexander then sent the folks home happy with a game-winning hit.

The Bulldogs finished with 15 hits. Mangum, Skelton, Alexander, Stovall and Tanner Poole each had two hits. Alexander finished with three RBIs.

Brant Blaylock (1-0) threw 2.2 innings of one-hit scoreless relief to get the win. Jacob Billingsley drew the start and threw four innings. Jacob Barton, Denver McQuary, Riley Self, Peyton Plumlee, Trey Jolly, Spencer Price, Andrew Mahoney and Parker Ford also pitched.

Alabama finished with 14 hits, committed four errors and stranded 13 base runners. Cobie Vance, Chandler Taylor, Sam Finnerty, Alex Webb and Kyle Kaufman each had multiple hits.

State will now turn its attention to Ole Miss as the two sides will face off in Pearl, Miss. on Tuesday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. CT. The annual Governor's Cup game will be nationally-televised on SEC Network.