Armed with an offspeed offering added to his repertoire, Brendan King has emerged as a dependable workhorse at the top of the rotation for the Holy Cross baseball team this season. The junior righthander from Brookline via the Rivers School was lined up to start against visiting Lehigh in the Patriot League semifinals Saturday in Worcester. In his two most recent outings, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound King tossed 7.2 scoreless innings against Bucknell and then blanked Lafayette in a seven-inning outing to raise his record to 6-2 with a 3.03 earned run average. In 65.1 innings, he has struck out 60 batters while limiting opposing hitters to a .232 average for the Crusaders (27-24 overall, 14-6 Patriot League).
“Brendan’s been the trailblazer for our program in terms of quality starts,’’ said Holy Cross coach Greg DiCenzo. “He locates his fastball well, his pitch selection has been a strong point and his velocity has increased as he’s gotten stronger.’’
DiCenzo said King’s breaking ball is one of the “two or three best ‘’ in the league.
A two-time Patriot League Pitcher of the Week this season, and a repeat first-team all-league selection, the 21-year-old mathematics major pitched last summer for the California Collegiate Baseball League champion Neptune Beach Pearl, compiling a 6-0 record.
King has committed to the Cape Cod baseball League’s Falmouth Commodores for the upcoming season. After graduating from Rivers, where he played baritone saxophone in the jazz band, suited up on the football team, and was a baseball captain, he helped lead Avon Old Farms to the 2013 Founders and Colonial League baseball title. His father, David, was on the tennis team at the University of New Hampshire.
Q. You went from seven innings pitched and a 9.82 ERA your freshman season to a 3-1 record, 58.1 innings and a 2.16 ERA last year. What made such a dramatic difference?
A. I almost expected college baseball would be above my playing level. I had to change my mental approach. That summer, I threw about 40 innings for the Brockton Rox of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, had some success and got a big confidence boost.
Q. What was the most important game you pitched for Neptune Beach?
A. We needed to win both games of a doubleheader to take the title and I pitched the first game, a 7-1 win against the Los Angeles Brewers. It was the first time I was ever away from home and it was a lot of fun playing with guys from all over the country.
Q. When did you learn to play the sax?
A. When I was in fourth grade. My dad plays guitar in a band and we’d sometimes play together at home.
Q. What are your expectations for the Cape Cod League?
A. My goal is to stick around for the whole summer and help Falmouth make another run to the playoffs.
Q. What was your role as a sophomore on the Independent School League football title in 2010?
A. I was backup quarterback, a starting outside linebacker and on special teams. I loved being on the team. It was a tight-knit group of guys. Unfortunately, an elbow injury kept me from playing football again and I also missed my junior baseball season.
Q. What made you choose your major?
A. I had a great math professor (David Damiano ) my first semester at Holy Cross and his course was thought-provoking. It made me visualize functions in three dimensions which I found interesting. I plan to go into finance and would use the critical thinking skills that math has taught me.
Q. How do you account for your strikeouts per inning total rising so sharply this season?
A. Last year I was a two-pitch guy. I’ve added a changeup, which has been my best strikeout pitch. My curveball breaks to my glove side and my changeup dips to my arm side, giving me pitches that can break to both sides of the plate.
Q. What is the best advice you received from a coach at any level?
A. My football coach at Rivers, Rich Fisher, told us that the great thing about your attitude is that every morning you get to choose it.
Q. You’re a movie fan. What’s your all-time favorite?
A. “Memento’’, directed by Christopher Nolan, which came out in 2000. The story is told chronologically backwards and the resolution is the most exciting I’ve seen in any movie.
MARVIN PAVE
For full interview go to bostonglobe.com/west.
