The baseball team at Galileo High School wasn’t picked to go far this season, but great pitching and timely hitting took them all the way to the final game of the Transbay Series!

Galileo’s squad was invited to a party it hadn’t attended in 32 years. Although the surprising team left the bash without celebration, the Lions made things tough for Oakland Tech, the eventual victor of the Academic Athletic Association (AAA) best-of-three Transbay Series.

The fact that Galileo got into the Transbay Series at all represented an amazing comeback for a team that battled all season long. When Erik Wilson hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Galileo a 5–4 victory over Washington High in the San Francisco Section title game at AT&T Park, the victory gave Galileo its first SFS title since 1978. Wilson’s clutch hit made Lions’ hurler Dylan Nelson the winning pitcher, throwing a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts while adding two doubles and a triple from the plate.

The Lions were led all season by three standout performers: senior Dylan Nelson (.581 regular season batting average, 43 hits, 26 RBI, 2 home runs, and 35 stolen bases; as a pitcher, 3 wins, 76 strikeouts and 2.42 ERA), junior Erik Wilson (.368 regular season batting average, 28 hits, 22 RBI, 2 home runs, and 15 stolen bases), and junior Dustin Andrick (.432 regular season batting average, 35 hits, 19 RBI, and 25 stolen bases; as a pitcher, 5 wins, 70 strikeouts and 2.88 ERA). Nelson was the team’s leader all year long, both on the field and off, and was selected as the AAA Player of the Year in football and baseball. The graduating senior was closely watched by pro scouts before signing to play next season at the College of San Mateo.

In Game 1 of the Transbay Series, a go-ahead RBI single from senior Garrett Kwong gave Galileo a victory over Oakland Tech 5–4 on May 19 at San Francisco State.

Galileo started the sixth inning leading 2–1, but the Bulldogs of Oakland Tech recaptured the lead with a steal of home by Gabriel Freund and a monster RBI triple from Kelvin McMiller.

The Lions responded in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run single by Dustin Andrick. Andrick advanced to second on a balk, and Kwong knocked in the eventual game-winning run with a sharp single to center field.

Nelson had another solid start for the Lions, allowing one earned run while striking out 12 in the Game 1 victory.

Game 2 of the Transbay Series took place on May 24 at the Oakland Coliseum. Galileo’s coach, Don Papa, wanted to win the game to avoid a third and final contest at Henderson Field in Oakland, located right down the street from the Oakland Tech campus.

“I’ve got one game more left in me,” Papa said. “I don’t want to play two more. One trip to Oakland will be good. I’m just happy they keep hanging in there and figuring out ways to win.”

But Game 2 didn’t go as well as Papa anticipated, because the Lions ran into a hot pitcher – an Oakland Tech sophomore named Matt Cornell who threw 12 strikeouts and shut Galileo down, with a final score of 8–0 to tie the series at 1–1. Cornell was brilliant, scattering 10 hits and stranding 11 Lion runners.

It was a big day for the entire Cornell family, as Pete Cornell, a Bulldog coach and Matt’s father, is a professional saxophonist who played the national anthem prior to the game at the Oakland Coliseum. Cornell’s exemplary performance led the Bulldogs to the deciding game on May 26 at Rickey Henderson Field.

Galileo was off its game in the second contest, committing six errors that led to seven unearned runs behind losing left-handed pitcher Dustin Andrick (who gave up eight hits, struck out eight, and walked three).

Coach Papa obviously wasn’t enamored by his Lions’ play, but remained very hopeful to capture the series by taking a trip back to Oakland for Game 3. “I saw these kids lose 27–2 in their Academic Athletic Association finale to Washington, but then we beat them two weeks later in the San Francisco Section finals. This is a very resilient squad and they never quit.”

So Galileo’s baseball season came down to the final contest of a three-game series. Dylan Nelson stepped up once more by pitching a five-hitter while striking out 10 and shutting out Oakland Tech for the final six innings, but it was ultimately a 2–1 Transbay championship game victory for the Bulldogs at Rickey Henderson Field in Oakland.

Oakland Tech (17–6) fought back from a 1–0 deficit after the first game to win the next two with dominant pitching. The Bulldogs allowed just one run over the final 14 innings of the series to ruin a near-dream school year for Galileo (18-15).

Oakland’s McMiller out-dueled Nelson in the deciding game, allowing just three hits. The Bulldog hurler was shaky during the first inning and walked leadoff batter William Kay, who moved to third on a double by Dustin Andrick.

After back-to-back walks to Nelson and Garrett Kwong, the Lions had a short-lived 1–0 lead. But McMiller shut the door with consecutive strikeouts.

In the bottom of the first, Tech’s McMiller singled home Azeem Ahmad, who opened with a walk and stole second. Matt Cornell then drove home the game-winner with an RBI single to score McMiller.

Nelson got out of a jam in the second inning when Tech catcher Evan Williams tripled, but was promptly picked off. Nelson struck out the next two to squirm out of a tough spot.

McMiller then escaped trouble during the sixth inning when Nelson and Erik Wilson drilled back-to-back singles, but he struck out the next two and persuaded Jonathan Lu to ground out.

In the seventh inning, Galileo’s Andrick reached second on an error, but was thrown out at third base following a single from Nelson, on an accurate throw by Oakland’s Ahmad.

“We accomplished a ton of great things this year” Papa said. “Today was a prime example of our entire season. Our three big guys [Nelson, Wilson and Andrick] carried us at the top of the order.”
           
“I didn’t have my best stuff today,” Nelson said. “I never felt comfortable on the mound and my curve wasn’t breaking. Everything was a plus, because when we started this season, I didn’t think we’d even make the playoffs. So to get this far is a big deal. We found ways to win games all year long and we never gave up.”