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The "old" Jeff Lockwood came out for a jog down memory lane Tuesday night.

This wasn't the self-doubting Lockwood with the 7.13 earned run average. This was the confident Lockwood who earned freshman All-America honors for the Tennessee baseball team last season.

The former Halls High School standout made his second start on the mound and helped lead the Vols to a 12-4 romp past Appalachian State at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

"That was probably the best I've pitched all year," Lockwood said after giving up two runs on three hits in six innings of work. "Confidence had something to do with it. I didn't have too much going into it, but I made some adjustments in my windup ... and it really paid off.

"You just have to stay mentally strong and this outing is going to help me a lot with my confidence going into this weekend."

In Lockwood's only previous start this season he gave up three runs on seven hits in four innings of a 9-7 loss at Tennessee Tech.

This time he got in front of hitters, had control of his fastball and struck out four.

He cruised through five innings, allowing just one runner past second base in his first five innings before giving up a two-run homer to Appy State's David Rubinstein in the sixth.

"I haven't seen too much of the 'old' Lockwood because I wasn't here last year," UT coach Todd Raleigh said, "but he pitched unbelievable tonight."

He got the support he needed early.

Freshman rightfielder Josh Liles (2-for-4, three RBIs) hit his fourth home run of the season and his third in 11 days, a solo shot the opposite way to right field in the second inning to give Tennessee (24-16) a 2-0 lead.

The Vols broke it open by sending nine batters to the plate in the third inning against Appalachian State (20-22). Andy Simunic had an RBI triple, Yan Gomes an RBI sacrifice fly, Cody Brown an RBI single and Liles a run-scoring single.

Four more runs came across for UT in the sixth with a two-run single by Gomes the big blow.

"We did a lot of good things tonight," Raleigh said. "It was kind of opposite of what we did at Arkansas. It seemed like we had more hits there, but couldn't score runs. It was good to get multiple runs in an inning."

The Vols will try for more of the same at 7 tonight with a rematch at home against East Tennessee State University. ETSU (11-29, 8-16 Sun Belt) hung a 10-9 loss on UT April 9 in Johnson City.

Notebook: The jersey of UT's Jarred Frazier was hanging in the Tennessee dugout out of respect for the junior outfielder. Frazier's mother lost a lengthy battle with cancer last week. He could return tonight or in time for the trip to Mississippi State this weekend ... Freshman centerfielder Kentrail Davis, UT's leading hitter (.367), was out of the lineup with flu-like symptoms ... Freshman shortstop Cody Grisham scored three runs as he reached base on a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a bunt single ... Sophomore Mike Moore got his first hit and RBI of the season with a line-drive single to right field.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.