DURHAM, N.C. – A quick start by way of a two-run home run from Chris Perez and a stellar outing from Jack Labosky powered Duke to a 5-2 victory over Longwood Tuesday night at Jack Coombs Field.
 
Perez's two-run homer in the first was enough to spark Duke in the early going. The designated hitter, who went 2-for-4 on the day, nearly had the blast robbed by left fielder Kyri Washington, but the ball tipped off the glove for an early 2-0 lead.
 
That was plenty of support for Labosky (3-0) who retired the first 10 Lancers he faced on the hill, rolling through the first three innings en route to his third win of the season. The right hander would finish with a line of four hits, one run and three strikeouts in five innings on the evening.
 
On the mound for the Lancers, freshman Zach Potojecki made his first career start for the blue and white and tossed a solid 4.1 innings. The career-long outing ended when Potojecki worked into a bases loaded jam in the fifth, but the rookie enjoyed the moment against the ACC Blue Devils.
 
"Today was a very exciting moment," said Potojecki. "To come out tonight and start against Duke was amazing and I just felt like it was all one big learning experience. To go out there and compete for four innings is a big confidence booster."
 
Designated hitter Chris Perez launched a two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the first, opening the scoring and staking Duke to an early lead. In his first start at Longwood, Potojecki allowed a one-out single in the bottom of the first before Perez took flight to left. Lancer left fielder Kyri Washington nearly robbed Perez, leaping at the wall, but the ball deflected off the top of his glove for the homer.
 
While Washington just missed nabbing Perez's two-run shot, the left fielder did go up and take one away from Kenny Koplove an inning later in almost the exact same spot.
 
Meanwhile, Duke starter Jack Labosky was dealing on the mound, retiring the first 10 Lancers he faced. Brandon Harvell broke up the no-hit bid in the fourth with a one-out bloop single to right. That seemed to take the lid off the Longwood offense as Kyri Washington followed with a double down the left field line on the first pitch of his at-bat. Cleanup hitter Travis Biddix would follow with a groundball to short which scored Harvell, cutting the Duke lead in half.
 
After the rocky first, Potojecki settled in on the hill and extended for his longest career outing, working 4.1 innings. The freshman allowed four hits while striking out a pair before exiting with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth. Two of the runners would come to the plate, leaving Potojecki responsible for four earned runs.
 
Potojecki's effort on the mound kept the Lancers close, but it was a game of missed opportunities for the blue and white who stranded five runners on base in the middle innings, including three in scoring position. In what were key opportunities for the Lancers to get back into the game after falling in an early 2-0 hole.
 
While the Lancers were able to pull a run back in the fourth, it could have been more for the blue and white. Back-to-back one-out hits from Harvell and Washington put runners on second and third before a fielder's choice scored a run. However, Washington was caught in no-man's land off second on the play for the second out of the inning.
 
After the chance to knot the game up went by the wayside for the Lancers, Duke pounced with another pair of runs to extend its lead to 4-1. Potojecki ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth, beginning with a one-out walk before the Blue Devils loaded the bases on back-to-back singles. The jam chased Potojecki from his first career start, but the freshman was impressive against the ACC opponent.
 
A single brought two more runs to the ledger of Potojecki and closed the book on the rookie with four runs on four hits. The right-hander also fanned a pair of Blue Devils in his 4.1 innings of work.
 
"I thought Zach did a great job and was very composed in his first collegiate start," said head coach Ryan Mau. "He did a good job of pitching off his fastball today and keeping us around in the ballgame and giving us a chance to hang around and potentially strike later."
 
The Lancers also received a solid pitching performance from Garrett Paul who finished the game out with 2.1 innings of relief work. The sophomore allowed a single run on just one hit while striking out a Blue Devil as well. The 2.1 innings also marks a career-long outing for Paul in his second season at Longwood.
 
"Garrett made a great adjustment last week mechanically and started trusting some things," said Mau. "He brought those changes into the game today and I'm really pleased with the way he threw the fastball today and dropped in a breaker at times. He had a really good outing today."
 
Paul gave the Lancers a chance for a late comeback, but the dramatics would fall just short as Longwood brought the tying run to the plate. Back-to-back singles from Connar Bastaich and Brandon Delk led off the top of the ninth with Longwood trailing 5-1. Two batters later, Michael Osinski roped a one-out double to left center which brought Bastaich around to score and put runners at second and third with the tying run at the plate.
 
Unfortunately, the Lancers couldn't complete the rally as a strikeout and pop-up ended the game at the final of 5-2. Longwood will now have a short turnaround, starting the final series of the season versus Winthrop Thursday night at Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
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