CHATHAM, Mass. – Brandon Miller (Millersville) has caught a lot of eyes this summer. Coming from a small Division II School in Pennsylvania, he has taken the mound against the likes of UVA, Vanderbilt, LSU, and Florida. Many of the batters who stepped into the box against him didn’t know his school existed beforehand. After, they were well aware.

Entering Friday’s 5 p.m. contest against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Miller is 3-0 with a 1.66 ERA. Through 21.2 innings he has recorded 24 strikeouts to a single walk. As a result he will represent Chatham with fellow pitchers Aaron McGarity (Virginia Tech) and Parker Dunshee (Wake Forest), as well as center fielder Aaron Knapp (California), in the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game on Saturday.

Thursday afternoon Miller talked about his unusual small-school background and his experience on the Cape so far in the first edition of Stars of Tonight, a four-part Q&A series on this year’s Chatham All-Stars. Here is what Miller had to say.

Brandon Miller (Millersville) is 3-0 with a 1.66 ERA. 

Matt Jasko: You come from Millersville, a smaller school—one that not a lot of people have heard of. Everyone knows the benefits of going to a big school, but do you see any advantages of going to a place like Millersville that people might not realize exist'

Brandon Miller: Personally I went to Millersville for the academics—I’m in engineering. That was the biggest part of my decision to go there—the academics—and baseball was second in my mind. Down the road I think it’s going to help me because if baseball doesn’t work out, I know I’m going to have a great education to back that up.

MJ: Around here, in addition to being studious, you’ve earned a reputation as an outdoorsman. Going to school at a location like Millersville do you have the opportunity to take advantage of the outdoors'

BM: Oh yeah— all the time! We try to go fishing and hunting as much as we can. I come from a very small town out in the country, and we do that a lot.

MJ: What do you think particularly draws you to the outdoors'

BM: I think just growing up with it. My parents were big outdoors people, and that was passed down to me.

MJ: Coming from that environment to Cape Cod, it’s still not an urban area, but there is much more of a spotlight. Did you ever think that one day you would be playing in the Cape League All-Star game'

BM: [chuckles] No, I didn’t really ever think about that. Personally before I came up here I didn’t know too much about the Cape. It’s just been a great experience. The coaching staff has really helped me, and I think I’ve been successful because of it.

MJ: How would you characterize your experience on the Cape as a whole so far'

BM: It’s beautiful—it’s been great. The team and the coaching staff have both been awesome, and I can’t complain at all. I’ve learned so much so far.

MJ: Anything in particular you’ve learned that you’ll take back to Millersville with you next year'

BM: Definitely all the things [Pitching] Coach [Rob] Bono has taught me. He hasn’t really said too many verbal things, but just watching him and how he calls a game and coaches the pitchers has taught me a lot. I’ll take that back to Millersville and probably even talk to some of our coaches about those experiences.

MJ: Your collegiate teammate Jimmy McDade played for Chatham for a little while as well. What was it been like to be teammates in both places with him'

BM: It was great. We’re both pitchers so we were around each other a lot, but coming up here and being together every day—living on the Cape—was just great to get to know each other a little bit better.

Tonight

Miller and the Anglers (21-15) will play their final contest before Saturday’s All-Star Game—a 5 p.m. duel at Red Wilson Field against the Red Sox (18-18). Chatham will likely hand the ball to their big lefty, Daniel Castano (Baylor). The southpaw has a 2.57 and two wins entering play. He will probably meet Brandon Bailey (Gonzaga), who is 1-4 with a 3.95 ERA.

Dominic Cotroneo and Jonny Wincott will have the call live, starting with the Anglers Extra Pregame Show at 4:40 p.m. on TRZ Teamline and at 1-800-846-4700, code 3841.