Ryan Jacobs, Matthew Esslinger lead young East Meadow squad past Farmingdale
East Meadows Matthew Esslinger delivers a pitch during a Nassau Baseball AAA-1 game against Farmingdale in East Meadow, NY, on Monday, Mar. 30, 2026. Credit: Derrick Dingle
Nobody needed a win more than the East Meadow baseball team on Monday night.
The Jets have felt the growing pains of being a young team, as they lost their first three games of the year, including their Nassau Conference AAA-I opener to Farmingdale last Friday. However, they got themselves into the win column for the first time in 2026 with an 8-3 victory over visiting Farmingdale in East Meadow.
East Meadow (1-3, 1-1) was plagued by graduation last June, as 13 of its players departed, leaving the playoff team with holes to fill. It is relying on underclassmen learning on the fly to try and return to the postseason. That youth proved its worth in Monday night’s win over the Dalers (1-1, 1-1).
Junior lefthander Matthew Esslinger earned the win, as he got the start and pitched four innings, surrendering a run on three hits while striking out six batters. He struggled with command at times, walking three batters and hitting three more, but persevered to strand eight of his nine baserunners and leave the mound with a 6-1 lead intact.
“I was just coming back after clearing my mind and wanting to throw strikes,” Esslinger said. “Other than that, it’s just baseball. You’ve just got to get a feel for everything.”
Senior first baseman Ryan Jacobs spotted Esslinger a lead by blasting a three-run triple up the left-centerfield gap in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore third baseman DJ Dowling, senior shortstop Trevor Smith and junior catcher Matthew Amy each drove in a run in the bottom of the second.
Esslinger’s clutchest moment came with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fourth, when he froze Farmingdale first baseman Lorenzo Cimino — a senior committed to FIU — by painting the corner with a fastball for the strikeout.
With the lead cut to 6-3 and two out in the bottom of the fifth, East Meadow freshman Aayden Marquez punched a 3-2 pitch into shallow centerfield for an RBI single, and a second run scored on an error to put the game out of reach.
“I was just thinking to myself, ‘I just helped us win,’” Marquez said. “I look up to all of these guys, and I’ve been dreaming about this all my life. It feels great to accomplish what I’ve been working on … I’m way more confident for the next time. This was very valuable.”
Mike Anderson is a high school sports reporter who has covered 12 sports so far at Newsday. He was the sports editor of Stony Brook University's campus newspaper for two years.
