Hanifee lives dream in IronBirds' debut

Brenan Hanifee spent much of his childhood watching Class A Short Season Aberdeen, hoping one day he'd don the team's uniform. On Thursday night, the Orioles No. 25 prospect fulfilled that dream and then some.
Hanifee scattered five hits and struck out five over six scoreless innings to earn his first professional win in the IronBirds' 3-0 victory over the Connecticut Tigers at Dodd Stadium. 
"It was special, it really was. I grew up watching the IronBirds, the Orioles," Hanifee said. "I still watch the Orioles every night I can. It's crazy to be able to do this, but I'm just trying to enjoy every minute of it. And I hope to keep this thing going."

Gameday box score
The 19-year-old, who had been pitching at the Orioles' Gulf Coast League facility in Florida since being selected in the fourth round of last year's Draft, was pleased to toe the rubber for a game that counted. 
"I'm feeling pretty good, it was just nice to get back out there," he said. "It's been a year since I've thrown in a real game, so I enjoyed it. ... There might've been some first-inning nerves, but after I threw that first pitch, they kind of went away and we rolled from there."
Hanifee kept calm and retired the side in the first inning on 10 pitches. In all, he threw 48 of his 69 pitches for strikes and accumulated 14 swings-and-misses. 
"I get out of the first inning, get a 1-2-3. I tried to set the tone in the first for the rest of the game, so that was good," the righty said. "I think that might have helped the nerves as well."
The Tigers challenged Hanifee in the second when Bryan Tejeda and Ariel Serrano singled. But he got out of the inning when Andres Sthormes bounced into a double play. 
"I was really just trying to get something in," Hanifee said. "We get a ground ball to the left side, turn a little double play, so that worked out well. I think I broke his bat on that pitch. It was good to get out of that jam."
After setting down five batters in a row, Hanifee encountered trouble in the fifth after Tejeda and Randel Alcantara reached on consecutive two-out singles. The right-hander got Serrano to ground out to short to end the threat.
"It was important that I got to experience that, I had to pitch out of a couple of jams," the 6-foot-5, 180-pound hurler said. "It makes those pitches more important. You have to make those pitches when you need to, and I did a good job of that."
With two outs in the sixth, Hanifee plunked Tejeda with a payoff pitch. IronBirds pitching coach Mark Hendrickson came out to reassure his hurler he'd stay in the game to get one more out, and then he induced a flyout by Alcantara.
"I was actually pretty pumped up," Hanifee said. "I didn't want to come out, I'm glad he left me in. I was able to get that last out. I figured my night was done after that, but it was a good feeling to get out of that inning and give the bullpen a clean inning to work with."
Hanifee credited 2017 seventh-round pick Ben Breazeale for the way his backstop managed the game from behind the plate.

"I thought I kept the ball down in the zone pretty well," Hanifee said. "We had a good mix. Hats off to my catcher, he called a great game. He's actually a new guy from Wake Forest. I was pleased with his effort behind the plate. We haven't been together too long -- I guess it's only been one bullpen session. He did a nice job."
Juan Echevarria and Joe Johnson pitched a scoreless inning apiece, and James Teague worked around a walk and fanned three in the ninth to earn his first career save. 
Aberdeen broke through in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by T.J. Nichting and Jose Paez scored on a passed ball. Garrett Copeland had a double and a single for the IronBirds, who were held to three hits.