Aidan Miller said he was in eighth grade when he first heard from EMU coaches about possibly playing baseball at the Division III Harrisonburg school.
And even though he was part of four state title teams in football at Riverheads, Miller began his college career in baseball with EMU – despite some late interest from Division I Richmond as a possible preferred walk-on in baseball.
“They offered me after I committed to EMU,” Miller said in a phone interview. “It was kind of a tossup. I talked to my dad. I wanted to play here and showcase my talent early on. Ultimately, I made the right decision. I am always happy where I am.”
He is like a coach on the field, according to EMU head coach Adam Posey. “Aidan is always asking questions, probably more than any player I have had. He is a fiery Riverheads kid,” Posey said in a phone interview.
Despite playing at the Division III level, Miller has faced Division I baseball players in two top-notch summer leagues as he prepares for his fourth season in Park View with the Royals.
The infielder played for his hometown Waynesboro Generals in 2024 and more than held his own, hitting .286 in 98 at-bats over 25 games, with four doubles, 10 steals and 13 RBIs.
This past summer, Miller headed north to play for the Chili Peppers in the Potomac League, a summer college circuit that plays at Capital One Park in the Tysons Corner area of Northern Virginia.
He was one of several EMU players on the roster, including Trevor Gjormand (infielder, James Madison High); Ryan Harrison (catcher/outfielder, Heritage); Kyle Rodgers (infielder, Herndon); Luke Tilley (pitcher/first base, Chantilly); Eric Wilkinson (first base/outfield, Fairfax); Jacob Dwyer (first base/outfield, Fairfax); and Michael Allen (pitcher/second base, James Madison.)
“We were loaded with EMU guys,” Miller said.
“We put a big emphasis on our guys playing in the summer. It worked out for us,” said Posey, noting that Shenandoah University has had several of its players appear in the summer with the Shockers (formerly in New Market) in the Rockingham County Baseball League.
Gjormand is the son of veteran James Madison High coach Mark “Pudge” Gjormand, who has won more than 500 games at the Vienna school and is a big part of the Chili Peppers in the Potomac League.
Josh Gjormand, the brother of Trevor, who finished his playing career at EMU in 2025, is now the director of player development for the baseball program at Division I Maryland. He also played at Lynchburg, which won the Division III national title in 2023.
He also played at James Madison High, which has won six state titles and sent five alums to the Major Leagues – the most of any public high school in the state. The most recent was first baseman Bryce Eldridge, a first-round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2023 who made his MLB debut with the team in September.
Sam Gjormand, the sister of Trevor and Josh, is a former baseball student manager at JMU and is now on the coaching staff at Division I College of Charleston in South Carolina as the general manager.
Miller spent the summer living with the Gjormand family in Northern Virginia.
Last year as a junior shortstop at EMU, he led the Royals in at-bats (152), hits (51), triples (6), and total bases (85) while hitting .336 with five homers. He hit .310 with one homer as the second baseman in 2024.
EMU finished the 2025 season 13-22 overall and 7-15 in the ODAC, just ahead of last-place Washington & Lee. But the Royals hope to move up in the standings in 2026, according to Posey and Miller.
“We have some new guys that can really play,” Miller said. “We have some transfers coming in that should impact us on the defensive end.”
Miller is on track to graduate in the spring and had planned to be an assistant coach in the Valley League with the Harrisonburg Turks in 2026, but has opted not to pursue that opportunity. Instead, with some input from Pudge Gjormand, Miller hopes to enter the Secret Service after finishing up his studies at EMU.
Notes
- EMU should have several key transfer pitchers for 2026, Posey noted. That includes Jackson Hull, who is from Carroll County and Fancy Gap and pitched in two games with JMU in 2024; and lefty Carter Mills, who pitched at Patrick Henry Community College in 2025 then was at La Salle in Philadelphia during the fall semester before transferring. He is from King George High.
- Former EMU and JMU outfielder Jaylon Lee, who helped coach the Royals this fall, has agreed to play the 2026 season for the Cosmic Chili Peppers. He also played for Woodstock in the Valley Baseball League. The Cosmic League is glow in the dark baseball. Lee hit .322 with an OPS of .822 for Boise in the Pioneer League in 2025, and played for Missoula in the Pioneer League in 2024. Former EMU infielder Brett Lindsay, the head coach at Regents University, played in the Czech Republic and Austria as well as in Indy leagues in North America. Lindsay played for the Charlottesville Tom Sox while in college.
- The Washington Nationals signed former University of Virginia pitcher Griff McCarry in the Rule 5 draft in December. He was a fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies out of Charlottesville in 2021 and reached the Triple-A level the next year. He pitched at three levels in 2025 in the Phillies system.