Taking advantage of the early signing period, New Iberia Senior High pitching ace Stefan Lopez decided last week to continue his baseball career at Southeastern Louisiana University after he graduates in the spring.

Lopez, the District 3-5A MVP last year, wanted to get the signing process over with as quickly as possible so recruiting would not interfere with his senior season.

“I wanted to sign to take a bunch of pressure off me,” said Lopez, who was also MVP of The Daily Iberian’s Best of the Teche Baseball Team for 2008. “First of all I just want to play my senior season and try to get us to the state (Class 5A) tournament. I wanted to find a good college to go to early so I don’t have the pressure later in the year.”

New Iberia Senior High pitcher and third baseman Stefan Lopez signed college scholarship papers with Southeastern Louisiana University on Friday. - Lee Ball / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

Lopez, who went 5-5 with a 3.42 ERA last year and hit .420 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs for the Jackets last year, felt the SLU was the best place to go.

“It’s real homey, like school,” said Lopez. “It’s not too small. It’s not too big. It’s almost like being in New Iberia.

“I like the coaches over there. They’re real nice and I like the facilities. I think that it’s going to be good for me.”

Lopez hadn’t yet decided what he will study at SLU but know that he would like to choose a course of study in the sciences.

The only other school that he considered signing with was Louisiana-Lafayette.

“Everyone’s No. 1 pick is LSU but that didn’t work out,” said Lopez. “It was between Southeastern and UL and I chose Southeastern.”

Now that he has signed on the dotted line, Lopez can concentrate on again leading NISH baseball this year.

“I want to try to make this the best year that I ever had in high school,” said Lopez. “It’s what people expect of me as a senior and it’s what I expect of myself. And I want to help my team get to the state tournament this year.”

NISH baseball coach Kyle Seibold thinks that SLU is good place for his ace.

“It’s always a good thing to have kids move on to the next level,” said Seibold. “It’s a testament to Stefan and his ability and the job that his parents have done in raising him.

“Hopefully it sheds some positive light on the baseball program here as well and we can have more guys come through this program like Stefan.

“He’s a smart kid, a competitor and I wish that I had nine of him.”

The NISH coach also thinks that with the new NCAA regulations that are going into effect, players like Lopez will be in high demand.

“It used to be that you could bring in a lot of guys, have as many as you want on your roster and red-shirt as many as you want,” said Seibold. “But the NCAA has limited how many people you can have in your program. A dual threat like Stefan, who can pitch and hit and play defense, is like getting two players in one.

“It’s good thing that he can go to a place where he can do both and has the potential to be good at both.”