Big hits from Hessman, Gonzalez lead Hens to victory

During Toledo's third School Celebration Day, the offense of the Mud Hens put on a clinic for the sold out crowd at Fifth Third Field. The Hens downed the Gwinnett Braves 10-5, tallying 13 hits on the morning. In his eighth outing of the year, Tim Melville showcased a solid start by working six and two thirds innings of four run ball.

The Mud Hens did the majority of their damage in the first, tying their season high for most runs scored in an inning with seven. The first three Toledo hitters reached base, which paved the way for Mike Hessman to come to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs. The King drove in a run with a solid single to left field to get the Mud Hens on the board. Then, two straight errors by Gwinnett gave the Mud Hens a 3-0 lead. With one out in the inning, Jefry Marte singled to make it 4-0, and then Miguel Gonzalez followed with a bases clearing double to push the lead to 7-0.

In the fifth inning, the Hens weren't finished with their scoring barrage. Jordan Lennerton got the inning started with a double to deep left-center field. An out and a Corey Jones walk later, Marte hit his second RBI single of the day to extend the lead to 8-0. Gonzalez continued his big day with his fourth RBI of the game on a single that scored Jones. After five innings, the Mud Hens led 9-0.

Melville was dealing through his first six innings of work, but ran into some trouble trying to stretch his start into the seventh. Through three innings, he was toying with a perfect game. Eury Perez led off the fourth inning with a single, but Melville was unfazed by it, inducing an inning-ending double play a batter later. In the seventh inning after allowing his first run of the morning, he left with the bases loaded and two outs. However, Jose Valdez wasn't able to get out of the inning cleanly, allowing all of the inherited runners to score.

In the bottom of the eighth with two outs, Hessman stepped to the plate and put the cherry on top of the Mud Hens' victory. In a 2-2 count, the King hammered his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot, to give the Hens a 10-4 lead. Josh Zeid allowed a run to score for the Braves in the ninth, but the Hens still managed to win the game by five.

The Mud Hens host their final School Celebration Day on Wednesday morning, with the first pitch scheduled for 10:30 a.m. against the Gwinnett Braves.