After a brilliant two-year career with the Mesa College Thunderbirds in Arizona, former Douglas High standout Bryan Miller will be taking his act down south to Troy University.
"I always knew I wanted to play Division I ball," Miller said. "I just never had any clue it would be in Alabama."
But then, little about Miller's post-high school career has been probable.
Miller swooped in under the radar his freshman year, signing with Mesa in the fall and proceeding to hit .353 as the team's starting center fielder and lead the school into the Division II Junior College World Series.
He became Mesa's first freshman All-American in nearly 30 years.
"(Mesa head coach) Joe Cirelli worked with me a lot once I got there," Miller said. "We changed my swing a little, but a lot of my improvement just came from being able to understand the game better and getting used to the stronger pitching quickly.
"The last two years were the best of my life. I've never had so much fun playing baseball. It's been awesome."
During his sophomore year, Miller was one of the nation's leaders in batting average as he helped Mesa become the top-ranked team in the country, again qualifying for the World Series.
This time, plenty of schools had picked him up on their radar.
Offers came in from Nevada, UNLV, Hawaii and even UCLA.
But Troy had remained a faithful suitor to Miller throughout the process.
"They gave me the best offer (tuition and books) and they were consistent with it," Miller said.
A teammate from Miller's freshman year, second baseman Edgar Ramirez, signed with Troy and told coach Bobby Pierce about him.
"Edgar told them about me and they were pretty interested," Miller said. "He said he loves it there and told me all about it. It's a great school and a great program. I just hope to do as best as I can and work hard and not let my coaches down."
Troy went 47-16 last season, claiming both the regular season and tournament crowns in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Trojans won two games in the NCAA Regionals before losing to Alabama.
Miller was in the process of driving the 27-hour trip to the school this week with Mesa teammate Charlie Calamia, who will play shortstop for the Trojans next year.
Miller said that he owes a great deal to former Douglas assistant Hal Wheeler and Cirelli for putting him in the position he's in now.
"Those guys got me there," Miller said. "They made it all possible."
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
