“I can barely get my hat on at this point,” said the senior Mulligan, whose strawberry blonde locks flow luxuriantly around the bottom of his baseball cap, reminiscent of another Tiger – 1970’s Detroit star Mark Fidrych. “Everybody is telling me that I have to respect the streak.”

The streak to which he is referring is his 14-inning body of work so far in 2023. Mulligan shut out Half Hollow Hills East on April 14 in a 5-0 Tiger win and followed that up by scattering 3 hits and striking out 7 Eagles in his latest effort. He walked no one and pitched ahead in the count for most of the afternoon. Mulligan had very little basepath traffic with which to contend – facing no more than 5 batters in any inning.

The Tigers are 6-3 as of this writing and Mulligan, who has worked his way into the starting rotation after an injury to Michael Lombardo, is making the most of the opportunity.

“I’m a competitor and I’m glad I got a chance to show them (the coaches) what I can do,” Mulligan said. “So far, so good.”

Head Baseball Sean Lynch is impressed with Mulligan’s work on the mound.

“Mully wanted that third starter role badly and we discussed earlier in the year what he needed to do to get it,” Lynch said. “He has done exactly that – throw strikes, stay ahead and let your defense play behind you. He’s taken this opportunity and given us exactly what we were looking for and more.

The Tigers gave Mulligan a small gift in this one with some early run support. With a lineup that was already missing shortstop Owen Johansen, who is out for the year with a knee injury, and Lombardo, on the shelf with a hand injury, strung three hits together to lead off the game. When Tiger Catcher John Dwyer knocked in 2^nd baseman Dylan Sofarelli with an RBI single to right, it would give Mulligan all he would need.

He would get more.

In the third, Dwyer led off with a walk, CF Aiden Bisson was hit by a pitch, and they came around to score on LF Ty D’Amico’s single to left.  RF Stephen Blazevich also had an RBI hit in what was to be a 4 run third explosion off of Eagle starter Sandiel Collado. Bisson entered the game when starting centerfielder Dominick Tetta injured his ankle, further shortening Lynch’s lineup.

“We have lost our two, three and four hitters in the lineup,” said Lynch. “That’s a big deal and that’s why getting these types of pitching performances is so important.”

The Tiger starting rotation, including Milligan, Aiden Bisson and lefty Max Donecea have been brilliant thus far.  They are a combined 6-1 and an earned run average of less than two. First year Tiger pitching and catching coach Drew Repetti has worked with Mulligan, and all the pitchers, on their mechanics.

“We’ve worked on maintaining a good rhythm, drifting downhill on the mound and having a consistent arm slot,” said Repetti, who was a catcher at Florida State University. “We also put into place a pitchers off day bullpen sessions and long toss, which strengthens the arm between starts. The guys are buying into this system and is seeing the benefits and results. It’s just a matter of good repetition.”

The man with the best view of these results was Dwyer who has caught all 14 of Mulligan’s innings.

“Ty was hitting his spots, getting a good break on his curveball and keeping them off,” said Dwyer. “His stuff was gross today!”

Mulligan will try to maintain that gross-ness when he makes his next start against the 8-1 Smithtown West Bulls this week. Smithtown is tied for first with West Islip and Northport is sitting two games back. But there is still the matter of him sitting in that barber’s chair. The buzz around the team is decidedly not in favor of it.

“As Crash Davis said in Bull Durham, ‘Never fool with a winning streak’”, Lynch laughed.

Mulligan is torn: “I dunno – it’s getting hard to manage at this point and a haircut is much needed. But it’s also right to keep the positive flow going.”

If his performance on the mound continues, that flow might necessitate Mulligan getting sized for a new hat – and that would be just fine with the Tigers.

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