July 5, 2007

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook head baseball coach Matt Senk has signed seven student-athletes to National Letters of Intent, it was announced on Tuesday. Two junior college transfers will also join the Seawolves in the fall of 2007. The nine-person class features four student-athletes from Florida, three from Long Island and one from Illinois and Canada.

Clayton Suss RHP Cooper City HS Cooper City, Fla.

Evan Stecko-Haley RHP Coral Glades HS Coral Springs, Fla.

Danny Tejeda OF Archbishop McCarthy HS Miramar, Fla.

Mike Barbot LHP Seminole C.C. Bronx, N.Y.

Nick Thode C/INF Walt Whitman HS Huntington Station, N.Y.

Stephen Marino INF Centereach HS Lake Grove, N.Y.

Rob Inzerillo OF/LHP Valley Stream Central HS Valley Stream, N.Y.

Chad Rebecca INF Oakton C.C. Mount Prospect, Ill.

Chad Marshall SS/2B Branford Braves Club Paris, Ontario

"The class of '11 is one of the top recruiting classes we have had in the last 8 years at the Division I level," said Senk. "We expect that this talented group will have positive short and long term effects on the program."

Clayton Suss joins the Seawolves after a senior season in which he struck out 73 batters in 62 innings. The 6'3'' right-hander earned South Florida Sun Sentinel honorable-mention all-county and was a 27th round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs. Evan Stecko-Haley, one of three student-athletes who comes to Stony Brook from Broward County, struck out 74 batters in 69 innings while compiling a 2.22 ERA. Stecko-Haley earned 4A-1A second-team all county honors. Danny Tejeda, who led Broward County in hitting with a .525 average, had two homers and 25 RBI for the Mavericks. The Archbishop McCarthy star was a 4A-1A all-county first-team selection. Junior College transfer Mike Barbot, who attended high school in the Bronx at baseball power Mt. St. Michael, struck out 40 in 48 innings at Seminole Community College in Clermont, Florida.

Huntington Station, N.Y. native Nick Thode joins Stony Brook out of Walt Whitman High School. Thode is a three-time all-Suffolk County player who earned all-state and all-Long Island honors in 2007, hitting .450 with two home runs and 30 RBI. As a junior, Thode played on the gold-winning Empire State team for Long Island. Stephen Marino comes to Stony Brook from nearby Lake Grove, N.Y. where he was a two-time all-league selection. As a senior, Marino earned all-county honors including a gold glove selection. Marino hit .371 with 15 RBI for Centereach High School. Rob Inzerillo joins the Seawolves in 2007 after earning all-Long Island and all-state honors as a senior at Valley Stream Central High School, the same school that produced former Stony Brook great and current Kansas City Royals prospect Andrew Larsen.

Chad Rebecca is the second of two junior college transfers to join the Seawolves in 2007. Rebecca hit .342 with four homers and 31 RBI. Rebecca earned all-Skyway Conference honors last season and was named a Rawlings Gold Glove winner. Chad Marshall comes to Stony Brook after being a part of the 17 and under Team Ontario team that won the gold medal at the Canada National Tournament. Marshall also was a member of the 2006 Inner County Terriers that won the Premier Baseball League Ontario and the 18 and under Sandlot World Series in Nashville, Tennessee.