Former Thompson High School baseball standout Austin Lucas recently signed a free-agent minor league contract with Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros to play professional baseball.

Lucas, a native of Alabaster, recently completed his collegiate career at Jacksonville State University. He was a starting pitcher on the Gamecocks’ Ohio Valley Conference championship team in 2010.

Lucas made 14 appearances and posted a perfect 6-0 record and a 5.31 earned run average. He held opponents to just a .256 batting average, which ranked third in the OVC, while ranking seventh with six wins.

Lucas finished his two-year career at Jacksonville State with a 13-3 record (.812), with was the eighth-best winning percentage by a pitcher in school history.

Lucas was 9-3 with 105 strikeouts in his senior season at Thompson. He played two years at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville before transferring to Jacksonville State.

Lucas has been assigned to the Astros’ Rookie Gulf Coast League team in Kissimmee, Fla.