OXFORD | Ole Miss needed an early dose of offense.

A day after struggling against Reid Detmers and the Louisville left-handed bullpen, the Rebels matched up with Bobby Miller and his fastball that nears 100 MPH. Peyton Chatagnier doubled in Anthony Servideo before there was an out, and Cael Baker punctuated the opening inning with a two-run home run off Miller’s 97 MPH fastball.

It was only the start of Baker’s fastball onslaught.

The junior college transfer and NJCAA triple crown winner went 4-for-4, hit another home run that ended up being quite important, added a double and contributed four RBIs in the 8-6 Ole Miss win to even the series with No. 1 Louisville. The 25th-ranked Rebels and Cardinals decide the series at noon on Sunday.

After we got dominated by the fastball last night, we were all disappointed,” Mike Bianco said. “It’s great that we fouled pitches off and ran the pitch count up. We had to be better against the fastball and some fastball it was with Miller.”

Baker finished a triple shy of the cycle but admitted that likely wasn’t a possibility for the 6-foot, 260-pounder. “They’d have to kick it around a couple times,” Baker said, sharing a laugh with the media during postgame.

Baker hit .074 as a freshman at Cincinnati in 2018 but exploded at Wabash Valley College, batting 506 with 101 RBIs, 25 home runs and a 1.647 slugging percentage.

His first-inning home run gave Ole Miss a 3-0 lead, his fifth-inning double down the third base line gave the Rebels a 4-3 lead, and the 2-2 fastball he turned around for a home run in the seventh was the decider, giving Ole Miss three runs and an 8-5 lead at the time.

“He’s a great kid and just a joy,” Bianco said. “He’s fun. He loves the game and he’s starting to feel comfortable up there.”

Baker said all four hits were off fastballs, as he continued his torrid spring following a rough fall that’s typical of a lot of first-year players.

Louisville hit a ninth-inning home run and put two in scoring position for Ben Bianco who struck out on a full-count high fastball to end the game with two runners in scoring position. Bianco said Ole Miss had to go after his son with Justin Lavey on deck.

“You try to pitch him like you’d pitch everybody else,” Bianco said. “We had to attack Ben and go after him. Ball out of the zone but thankfully for me and us he chased it.”

Braden Forsyth entered with two on and one out in the ninth and got a 3-0 foul out before finishing the game against Bianco.

Gunnar Hoglund gave up six hits and three runs in 5.1 innings. The sophomore threw 56 strikes in 80 pitches and struck out seven with one walk. Hoglund struck out five in a row at one point and allowed single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings.

Louisville tied the game three times but never led.

Kevin Graham hit two doubles in his first appearance of the season, and Peyton Chatagnier had two hits following one on Friday. Ole Miss was 2-of-12 with runners in scoring position but scored a runner from third with less than two outs on all three chances.