Baseball's Figueroa Named SEC Player Of The Week
Monday, May 19, 2008 | Baseball
Sophomore shortstop Cole Figueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.) was chosen as the SEC Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday after helping the Gators to a perfect 4-0 week, highlighted by a three-game sweep of No. 13 Vanderbilt that secured the third seed for the SEC Tournament.
Over the four victories, Figueroa went 8-for-17 (.471) with a team-high seven RBI and scored five runs. Against the Commodores, he hit .500 (6-for-12), totaled a team-best six RBI, drew three walks and belted a couple of homers.
The shortstop went 2-for-4 in Thursday's opener and connected on a solo shot in the fifth to bring UF within 5-3. The Gators would use a four-run eighth, highlighted by two-out, two-run homers by seniors Bryson Barber (Pensacola, Fla.) and Brandon McArthur (Seffner, Fla.), to collect an 8-6 win.
Figueroa cranked a three-run homer on Friday to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead as the Orange and Blue nipped VU, 5-4. In the finale, he gave Florida a 12-11 lead with a two-run, two-out single in the eighth. Later, Figueroa opened the home part of the 11th with a single and scored the winning run from second base with two out on senior Jon Townsend's (London, Ky.) base-hit. He finished the game 3-for-5, his team-leading 23rd multiple-hit game and drove in two runs for his team-leading 15th multiple-RBI outing.
A candidate for postseason honors, Figueroa is tied for third on the squad with a .343 batting average. He paces the Gators in total bases (113), RBI (55) and homers (nine) and is 18-for-22 on stolen-base attempts. No. 17 Florida (34-20) will begin the 2008 SEC Tournament on Wednesday at 2 p.m. versus Vanderbilt (37-18) in Hoover, Ala.
-UF-
