Left-hander Andrew Miller entered the Maryland baseball team’s 9-7 win over Alabama State on Feb. 19 with runners on second and third and one out. The Hornets rallied in their final at-bats, but Miller recorded the last two outs, earning a save in the process, to secure Maryland’s lone win.

Miller attributed his composure in Clearwater, Florida, to his pregame routine. Before the Terps warm up, Miller said he listens to Future to calm his nerves.

Six games into the season, Miller has emerged as one of coach John Szefc’s most consistent relief options out of a struggling bullpen. Entering the USA Baseball-Irish Classic this weekend, Miller, who pitched to a team-high 11.57 ERA last season, is one of three Maryland pitchers to have not yet allowed an earned run.

“Just those pressure situations, especially that Saturday game, you have to be confident on the mound and trust your stuff,” Miller said. “I listen to music to get in the zone. It’s about knowing when you come to the field, you have to be ready to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or a senior.”

First-year assistant coach Ryan Fecteau realized Miller could emerge as a top bullpen arm when he watched the Stratford, New Jersey, native pitch for the Baltimore Redbirds in an eighth inning last summer. As Fecteau scouted one of his future pitchers, Miller’s performance impressed him.

Miller’s velocity fluctuated between 90 mph and 92 mph, with one touching 93 mph, Fecteau said. The game Fecteau witnessed wasn’t an anomaly. Miller issued just two walks and pitched a 2.37 ERA over 30.1 innings with the Redbirds.

“Right there, you knew he could do it,” Fecteau said. “It was just a matter of is he going to be that type of kid for us, that confidence, is it going to carry over? Since I saw him that summer, I thought he was going to be fine, and he’s pretty much done exactly that since.”

Though Miller had success in the outing Fecteau attended, it was new territory for the lefty, who the Yankees selected in the 34th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. After he struggled in College Park as a freshman, Miller worked with Redbirds pitching coach Craig Lopez, who he credits with improving his mechanics.

Miller has pitched out of the stretch this season and “is using more of a leg kick than a side step” as he begins his delivery toward the plate, Fecteau said. In addition to the mechanics, Lopez also discussed with Miller the best time in the count to throw a breaking ball and where to locate it against different hitters.

“The first time I worked with [Lopez], it kind of seemed like everything clicked,” Miller said. “Everything he was talking about was right and everything just kind of fell into place. … It helped me locate my pitches in the fall and it carried over to the spring.”

Though Miller has had success in his first few outings, Szefc has yet to assign him a specific role. Miller pitched in the seventh and eighth innings against Louisville on Feb. 18, in the ninth against Alabama State on Feb. 19 and the fourth and fifth innings against LSU last weekend. Whenever he pitches, Miller is capable of producing consistent results because of his power slider, catcher Dan Maynard said.

“When he’s ahead in the count, he’s going to have a lot of success … He has good mound presence for sure,” Maynard said. “He has that same look on his face whether he threw a ball or whether he threw a strike.”

Each time Fecteau visits the mound, he can tell how confident a pitcher is based on their eye contact and breathing. It’s clear Miller is in the right mindset when “I can have a conversation with him,” Fecteau said. That maturity has separated Miller from some of Maryland’s less experienced bullpen arms who have had difficulty throwing strikes.

After games, Miller switches from rap to country music to help him cool down. The sequence enables him to be consistent each time he’s called upon.

“It’s about knowing I can beat everyone I face and [having] trust in my stuff,” Miller said. “It’s just about dominating hitters.”