PEARL — As the clock crept past 10 p.m. and the game time approached four hours, the Ole Miss Rebels transformed into creatures of the night. No matter what Southern Miss tried, how hard the Golden Eagles hit, the Rebels just wouldn’t stay dead.

It took Adam Doleac to play the role of Van Helsing and finally drive a stake in their hearts.

The slugging first baseman drove in two runs with a single in the top of the 12th inning, and Southern Miss at long last vanquished its in-state rival 8-6 Tuesday night at Trustmark Park.

“There was more relief when I caught that last out,” said Doleac, who went 4-for-6 with three RBIs and recorded the final putout on a grounder by Taylor Hightower. “We had a bunch of people step up and take the lead several times tonight. It’s tough when they get it back twice in a row to keep going as a team, and we were able to do that and get it one more time and Collin (Cargill) finished it off for us.”

Ole Miss (20-14) overcame a three-run deficit; tied it a 4 with a run in the bottom of the ninth; then tied it again at 6 after Southern Miss took the lead in the 11th. After Doleac’s hit put the Golden Eagles ahead 8-6, closer Collin Cargill retired the side in order with three groundballs in the bottom of the 12th to end it.

Cargill (4-2) pitched 32⁄3 innings of relief. He entered the game in the ninth and got out of a jam with a double play ball, blew the lead in the 11th and then finished it in the 12th. It was a small microcosm of a strange game full of twists and turns.

Each team committed four errors — USM (24-8) had three in the last three innings — and seven Ole Miss pitchers combined to walk 13 batters. Three of those walks, along with an error, led to a three-run first inning for Southern Miss that had the Rebels playing catch-up all night.

Ole Miss also walked four batters — two intentional — had a passed ball and an error in the 11th and 12th innings that led to USM’s last four runs.

“I would think both coaches weren’t happy with the way their teams played tonight. Both sides did a lot of things wrong. We were just fortunate that we came out on top,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “I do know that our team didn’t quit. Even though we gave the lead back two or three times we continued to pound away and work hard to get it back, and we did and were finally able to hold it.”