Monday, he was king of the hill, pitching the Rams (6-1), ranked and No. 19 in the Courier-Post Top 20, to a 3-0 victory over No. 14 and previously unbeaten Burlington Township (4-1) in a Burlington County interdivision game.

King, a 6-foot-2, 165-pound right-hander, scattered five hits - four in the last two innings - and tied his career-high in strikeouts with 10 in a dominating performance. He allowed no walks.

"Ian is our best first baseman, our best center fielder and one of our best pitchers," said Riverside coach Gary Herron. "He fits right in our rotation. I don't believe in saving pitchers for certain teams. When it's a kid's turn to pitch, he pitches, although he might be of great value in another position."

King (2-0) threw 103 pitches but still retired the side in order in four of seven innings. He got in trouble in the seventh when two hits and an error put Township runners on second and third with one out.

King buckled down and struck out a pair of pinch-hitters to end the game. He got both hitters on breaking balls.

"My fastball was my big pitch today, though," he said, "I had good location and that's all you really need when the ball is moving.

"A lot of my pitches were working and I was just trying to keep the ball down and let the fielders do the job."

Southpaw Ross Dempsey gave Riverside fits with his off-speed pitches and only one of the Rams' runs was earned.

Riverside scored two unearned runs in the second inning. Mike Rossi reached second base on a dropped fly ball and scored on Al Hendrick's single to center field. Hendrick took second on the throw to the plate, reached third on Todd Miller's groundout and scored when Matt Mann bounced out to second.

King survived a Township threat in the sixth when Paul Braswell singled and, two outs later, Nick Mendell singled to center. The ball got past the fielder but the relay caught Mendell at third before Braswell crossed the plate for the third out.

Singles by Brendon Griffin and King, along with Hendrick's sacrifice fly, made it 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth.