The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team managed to break its three-game losing by beating the Eastern Michigan Eagles 6-2 Friday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium behind solid outings from pitcher Steve Crnkovich and freshmen standouts Kentrail Davis and P.J. Polk.

"I thought we had a lot better at-bats today. We're getting closer and to not make an error is a nice feeling too," coach Todd Raleigh said following the victory. "The young guys are doing a great job. They're still just nine games into their Division I careers, and we're all getting closer to where we want to be."

The strength of the Vols success was once again their pitching. Crnkovich, a first-year transfer from the University of Illinois-Chicago, went seven innings allowing only two-earned runs on four hits. Crnkovich moved to 3-0 on the season with the win.

The Vols got on the board in the bottom of the first when a Kentrail Davis RBI brought Andy Simunic home from second base and advanced P.J. Polk into scoring position. Cody Brown followed Davis' at-bat with an RBI of his own as he hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield allowing Polk to score.

Crnkovich retired the first eight Eagle batters before giving up a solo home run to Michael Boyd in the top of the third inning.

Tennessee matched the Eagles with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning when Davis hit a single into the left-center field gap scoring fellow Polk. Davis finished 3-for-3 from the plate with two RBIs and a run scored.

"I got a lot of really good pitches to hit today," Davis said. "It's been tough with my injuries, but it just makes me concentrate harder. I just tried to put the ball in-play."

The Vols plated another run in the fifth inning when Brown hit his second sacrifice fly of the game. Polk scored his third run of the game on the play.

The score remained 4-1 until the seventh inning when Eagle designated-hitter Aaron Powell hit a solo home run to bring his team within two. Powell was one of only three Eagles to record a hit in the contest.

Tennessee once again answered responded quickly as Josh Liles hit a sac fly to center field that scored Cody Brown in the bottom of the seventh. Liles has five RBI's in his eight games started.

The Vols finished out the game's scoring with an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Tanner Moore scored on an error by Eagle shortstop Jim Gulliver.

Aaron Everett and Ryne Simpson both pitched one inning of relief to finish out the game. The Vols usually erratic bullpen showed strength as Everett and Simpson kept the Eagles hitless through the two innings.

The Vols return to action for the second game of the weekend series with Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 2 p.m. The probable starter for the Vols is left-handed pitcher Nick Hernandez.