GREENVILLE, S.C. (Interstat) — Trip Brown fired six hitless innings and the Citadel Bulldogs erupted for seven runs in the ninth inning to rout the Mercer Bears 9-2 on Thursday evening at Fluor Field at the West End.

Brown struck out seven and did not allow a baserunner to reach on a hit, working around a walk and a hit batter while facing the minimum through six frames. The right-hander lowered his season ERA with his second consecutive quality start after a 4.0-inning, three-earned-run outing against Virginia Military Institute on May 16.

Mercer starter Garrett Lambert matched Brown early, striking out 10 over 5.2 innings while yielding five hits and one earned run. Lambert departed after allowing a double to Michael Gibson that drove in the game’s first run in the third inning. Gibson’s two-base hit to left-center scored Anderson, who had doubled, and gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

The game remained a pitchers’ duel until the eighth inning. Citadel added a second run when Zach Hunt reached on a fielding error by shortstop Buffone, allowing Gibson to score from second. Gibson had singled earlier in the inning. The error made the run unearned.

Citadel broke the game open in the ninth against the Mercer bullpen. After Phillips Daniels was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a passed ball, Willams singled up the middle to drive him in. Gibson followed with a double to deep left field, scoring Williams. A throwing error by first baseman Shepherd on a grounder by Lively allowed Gibson to score. Hunt then homered down the right field line, his third of the season, driving in Lively and himself. Later in the inning, Daniels’ two-run single capped the seven-run outburst, with two of those runs unearned due to a second Mercer error.

Mercer scored twice in the bottom of the ninth against Citadel reliever Michael Gibson, who worked 2.1 innings. Chris Katz hit his 21st home run of the season to left field, and Titan Kamaka added his seventh, a solo shot to left. The Bears managed 10 hits overall but left six runners on base.

Gibson finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and also earned the save with his relief work. Hunt went 2-for-5 with the home run and two RBIs. Sam Dansky collected two hits, and Daniels drove in two runs despite going 1-for-3. For Mercer, Katz and Kamaka each homered, and Shepherd had two hits. Andrew Garnett allowed one earned run in 2.2 innings of relief for the Bears.

The win improved Citadel to 33-24 overall. Mercer dropped to 43-14. The Bulldogs have now won four of their last five games, including a 13-7 victory at Wofford on May 20. Mercer had won three straight entering the contest.

The game was the first of a four-game series between the Southern Conference rivals. Mercer had taken two of three from Citadel earlier this season, winning 8-4 on March 21 and 11-0 on March 20, while the Bulldogs earned a 3-2 victory on March 22.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Citadel 8, Mercer 7, and the ELO system gave Mercer a 67.40 percent probability to win.