Clear Creek grads show promise in minors

The four Clear Creek grads playing minor league baseball continue to show promise.

Shawn Blackwell recorded the first win of his young career Monday, allowed two runs in 52/3 innings for the AZL Rangers. Blackwell, The Daily News’ co-player of the year in 2009, also had seven strikeouts for the Rookie Arizona League squad.

Blackwell is now 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA for the Rangers.

James Wooster, drafted by the Florida Marlins earlier this month, is off to a strong start for the Class A Jamestown Jammers.

Wooster is hitting .296 with a homer in seven RBIs in his first seven games. Four of his eight hits have gone for extra bases, and he also has drawn four walks and stolen a base.

Jarred Cosart has lost his last two contests with the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws, including lasting just 2/3 of an inning in his last start. Cosart is now 7-3 on the season with a 3.79 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 711/3 innings.

Cosart continues to receiver plenty of attention as one of the top prospects in baseball. A week after getting named to the Futures All-Star game, ESPN.com baseball insider Keith Law bumped him up to No. 22 on the list of top prospects.

Cosart had not been ranked on the list before. Law said that Cosart has “one of the best fastballs of any starter in the minors.”

David Newmann has hit a bit of a rough stretch for the Montgomery Biscuits. Newmann hasn’t won since June 6 and has given up at least three earned runs in his last four starts.

Still, Newman has a 4.22 ERA for the Tampa Bay Double-A squad, with 55 strikeouts in 79 innings.

Family Tradition

Santa Fe grad Kyle Giusti signed a letter of intent to play baseball for Galveston College.

Giusti, a first-team all-district and all-county selection, hit .400 this season with three homers, 20 RBIs and 27 runs. He’s the third Galveston County shortstop to sign with the Whitecaps, joining Friendswood’s Brandon Hollier and Texas City’s Randell Powell.

Giusti’s father, Frank, played on the original semipro Whitecaps team in the 1950s.

Galveston County Alumni notes are compiled by Joshua Buckley. Coaches and parents are highly encouraged to help us keep track of any Galveston County athlete in college or the pros. Contact us at 409-683-5242 or sports.desk(at)galvnews.com.