COLUMBIA, S.C. — On a night when the Columbia Fireflies honored the 1.5 millionth fan to enter the gates at Segra Park, Omar Hernandez provided the fireworks with the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning in a 3-2 victory over Charleston Thursday night in Columbia.
Hernandez's walk-off hit in the 10th scored Erick Pena and it was his second walk-off winner this season.
The Fireflies were down 2-0 in the fourth when Daniel Vazquez delivered an RBI triple which scored Hernandez for the first run of the game for the home team.
Pena would hit a solo homer in the fifth to tie the game 2-2. That score remained intact until Hernandez's heroics in the 10th inning.
The win came on a night when the Fireflies surpassed the 1.5 million mark in attendance. The lucky fan who hit it on the number was Carla Laird who received a commemorative jersey during a presentation after the third inning on the third base dugout.
Segra Park first opened its gates in 2016 with the one millionth fan arriving in July of 2019. The 1.5 millionth fan would have come through the gates sooner than 2023 but COVID cancelled the 2020 season and it took a while for the pre-COVID attendance to return.
Team president Brad Shank says it is at the point where everything feels like it was in 2019 and that should mean it will be a few short years when the 2,000,000th fan enters Segra Park.