Tennessee's baseball team bounced back from its first two-game losing streak of the season Tuesday night with a 10-2 downing of Xavier inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Cannon Peebles drove in three runs for the Volunteers, while Blake Burke and Reese Chapman drove in two.
"That was incredibly important," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference. "This is one of the better teams we've had here, and when you look back on a team, when you show some resiliency, that is what's important.
"We had a good approach in pregame, and you could tell the determination, but we were also loose."
The Vols, ranked No. 11 in the latest Baseball America poll after losing two of three this past weekend at Alabama, improved to 19-3 on the season, while Xavier fell to 9-12. The Musketeers do have nonconference wins over Louisville, Cincinnati and LSU.
Tennessee pounced quickly, getting a leadoff walk from Christian Moore and a two-run home run from Burke to right-center field to take a 2-0 lead. The Vols added three more runs in the fourth inning, when Peebles and Dean Curley led off with singles before coming around to score, extending their advantage to 5-1.
Zander Sechrist got the start for the Vols and worked three hitless innings.
Touted freshman shortstop Ariel Antigua made his first at-bat of the season, pinch-hitting in the eighth inning and flying out to the warning track in center.
"That's as energized as I've seen him in the batter's box during pregame batting practice," Vitello said. "It kind of carried over into the game."
The Vols host Ole Miss this weekend, with Friday night's opener set for 6:30. Vitello said that AJ Causey will start Friday and Drew Beam on Saturday with Sunday to be determined.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.