Gator shortstop Cole Figueroa will next play professional baseball after  signing a with the San Diego Padres on Thursday night --foregoing his final two years in orange-&-Blue. He was a sixth-round pick by the Padres in June's Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and has been assigned to the Eugene, Oregon Emeralds of the Class-A Northwest League. 

 Figueroa was the lone UF player to start all 58 games last season for Florida finishing third in the Southeastern Conference -- helping the Gators advance to NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2005. The infielder led the club in total bases (119), RBI (57), multiple-hit games (24), multiple-RBI games (15), home runs (nine) and sacrifice flies (seven) and rated second with a .350 batting average. Figueroa was the runner-up in hits (78), runs (61), doubles (12) and slugging percentage (.534).