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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 76 his breaking ball on command in the strike zone, plus changeup, and the fastball wasn't overpowering by any means, but it had good movement. He really knew how to pitch." Still, Downs' ceiling, the thinking was then, was probably a mid-week starter, someone who could eat up in- nings against mid-majors. What Sch- reiber couldn't determine then, but what he's grown to see in the years since, is the level of Downs' competi- tive spirit. Purdue's had similar per- sonalities develop into No. 1 pitchers in the past, guys like Joe Haas, the ace of the '12 championship team, and Matt Morgan, the top arm the year be- fore, who didn't have professional stuff but would attack opposing lineups. "You never know what the competi- tor is," Schreiber said. "(Gavin) brings a (pitching) skill set, his velocity has increased, has a great work ethic, but now we know he's one of the strongest competitors on the team." Downs made three mid-week starts in 2013, showing promise but in only a very limited role. He moved up in reliability last season, when his first three relief appearances each went at least five quality innings. Based on that success, and other starters' strug- gles, he jumped into the starting ro- tation, getting the ball for each of the last 12 weekends. Downs finished 3-6 with a 4.26 ERA, numbers that likely could have been better had the Boiler- makers been able to hold leads late or give better run support. For instance, Downs went six innings of two-run ball against LSU in a no-decision and pitched a complete game in a 2-0 shut- out loss to Ohio State. Two of his wins came against Mich- igan and Iowa, when he gave up only two runs in 14 combined innings. "You don't want to be the guy who goes in and pees down his leg," Downs said, "so I was going to go out there and have fun. It ended up that I did well, so I took it and ran with it. I had no expectation, didn't put any pressure on myself, so without that pressure I went out, had fun, played the game and that's how you get successful. "It gave some validation. I've always had confidence in myself. I know that, and I know that people look and don't think much — I've run into that my whole life — so that's not a surprise to me." But Downs has worked at it. "He never really gave up," classmate and fellow pitcher Kyle Wood said. "The year he walked on was a really tough year, most people probably would have thrown in the towel. But he came back the next year and earned himself a spot. He's performed well and has been consistent. Every one on the team, es- pecially the guys my age who saw him his freshman year, are really happy for him and glad to see he's doing as well as he is." j