Everything had gone smoothly for Hawaii pitcher L.J. Brewster until last Friday.

The converted third baseman had yet to give up more than two runs in any of his first three college starts and had shown control of four different pitches every time out.

That changed against Baylor to open the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park.

Brewster, who was making his first start as the No. 1 guy in the rotation after pitching on the weekend his previous three outings, knew before he stepped on the mound he didn’t have his best stuff.

"I could feel it. Before the game my fingers were actually kind of numb," Brewster said Tuesday. "It was hard to feel the ball a little bit."

It couldn’t have come at a worse time. Scouts from every major league team were on hand for the prestigious Houston tournament. He was pitching in a major league park and his team needed a boost after losing three straight to end the Pepperdine series.

It was a tough spot for a kid who has only worked as a starting pitcher for roughly three months.

A year ago, he was a third baseman who had never even attempted a pitch off the mound in college.

Here he was now, on the mound, radar guns filling the seats behind the plate. He knew he only had one pitch to work with.

Yet, he still delivered.

Brewster allowed a season-low two hits over 61⁄3 innings and despite walking four, came up with seven huge strikeouts to allow just one run in UH’s 2-1 victory over the Bears.

He went after the Bears with a fastball normally sitting in the low-90s, but stuck more in the high-80s partly because of the cooler temperature inside Minute Maid Park.

He located, he executed and he did the things that make a pitcher deserving of becoming a staff ace.

"That was the most impressed I’ve been with him because that was the first game he was able to pitch well when he didn’t have his best stuff, and there’s your sign of a good pitcher," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "That’s what you look for because you’re not going to have your best stuff 50 percent of the time when you go out and pitch."

He retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced before coming back out to start the fifth inning.

Nine pitchers later, he had walked the first two batters and suddenly found himself unsure of what he was doing.

Catcher Chayce Ka‘aua noticed this and came out to have a quick word.

"I just tried to make him to laugh to calm him down," Ka‘aua said. "I knew his changeup was off and so every time I saw him struggling with it, I’d come out and calm him down by making him laugh."

Ka‘aua saved his best joke for that spot in the fifth inning. Brewster wouldn’t say what it was, but it obviously helped.

"I don’t think I should be saying it right now but it definitely helped me get my mind off things and throwing strikes and not worry about what happened before," Brewster said. "Chayce made me forget about (the previous pitches) and it helped me learn how to manage innings and not let things get out of control."

Through four outings, Brewster is 3-1 with a 1.75 ERA and has struck out 21 in 25 2⁄3 innings. Opposing teams are hitting .202 against him.

Part of that success has come from the relationship he’s developed with Ka‘aua behind the plate.

"Just kind of getting into a rhythm with him has helped a lot," Brewster said. "In the fall you’re throwing to different catchers and you can’t really get a rhythm but now that we’ve thrown three, four starts together it’s helped us get on the same page."

Ka‘aua calls Brewster one of the more chill guys on the team. He says that personality has allowed him to make the transition to a starting pitcher easier.

"It’s unbelievable the transition from last year to this year," Ka‘aua said. "He seems so calm and comfortable on the mound like he’s been doing it all his life. You could never tell he was a position player last year."

That presence on the mound doesn’t surprise Trapasso.

"He’s never shown fear," Trapasso said. "He’s never been a real high ‘rah-rah’ vocal guy. He’s a very even-keeled kid and it really does fit pitching well."

L.J. Brewster, RHP

Height/Weight: 6-2, 200

Class: Junior

Hometown: Huntington Beach, Calif.

First four career starts