OXFORD | Arkansas sent a cavalry to the left-field bullpen four batters into the bottom of the first inning.

Ole Miss had a run on the board and the bases loaded with no outs after Ryan Moerman took first base on a hit by pitch. That came after Hayden Federico reached on a strikeout passed ball, Luke Hill doubled, and Mitchell Sanford walked.

Arkansas starter Gabe Gaeckle didn’t have a consistent release point or any outs, and the Razorbacks hurried to replace him. Isaac Humphrey walked which brought in another run, and the first-inning uppercut was in play with one more good swing.

Instead, Judd Utermark struck out looking, and Will Furniss rolled into a double play to end the inning. Gaeckle settled and didn’t allow a hit through three more innings to keep Arkansas within a run until the fifth inning.

“When they open the door and give you an opportunity you want to take advantage of it, but more disappointing is we didn’t do anything after that,” Mike Bianco said. “We didn’t do anything offensively and didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

That’s when hell broke loose.

Arkansas sent nine batters to the plate before Ole Miss recorded an out and used the eight-run frame to rout the Rebels, 12-3, and even the weekend series. The two teams play the rubber match at 1:30 on Sunday.

Riley Maddox had allowed one run through four innings, facing the minimum in the second and fourth innings and stranding the bases loaded in the third. An infield single and a home run started the fifth and ended his day.

“Riley was OK,” Bianco said. “He pitched well enough to win and got us to where we wanted to be. One pitch away from getting through the fifth maybe. We were at the edge there after the fourth, and that’s why I came so quickly. We were ready to go to the pen, but we wanted to give him an opportunity there.”

The Razorbacks made it back-to-back-to-back home runs with two straight off Will McCausland, who allowed five batters to reach and four hits in 11 pitches. Ryne Rodriguez and Alex Canney also pitched in the inning that included 12 batters, four extra base hits, an error and 29 minutes.

“Credit them, but you can’t blow up like that,” Bianco said. “Credit to them, but you have to make a pitch and make a play.”

McCausland gave up one run in 3.2 innings against Clemson for his Ole Miss debut but has yielded 10 runs in 7.1 innings since the win over the Tigers.

Ole Miss is 15-3, with the three losses coming by 10, nine and nine runs. Arkansas is 17-2. Both teams are 1-1 in the SEC.

Arkansas started the game 0-for-5 with runners on base but went 5 for its next 7 in that category. Ole Miss was 2-for-8 with runners on for the game. The Rebels went 0-for-10 to close the game and didn't have a runner on base after the fifth inning.

Maddox threw 68 pitches, 40 strikes, in the four innings. He struck out three with two walks and four hits. The outing ended his straight of three straight starts of five innings.

Austin Fawley hit his fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning. Five of his six hits on the year have been out of the park.

Ole Miss struck out 18 times as a team including four by Utermark and three of Owen Paino. Federico, Humphrey, Collin Reuter and Fawley each struck out twice.

Arkansas hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning.