Holden Martin had his strikeout pitches working.

With his curveball buckling knees and his fastball sneaking up on hitters, the Karns City right-hander fanned 15 Union batters Thursday afternoon in an 11-2 baseball win at Kelly Automotive Park.

“He was definitely on,” said Karns City coach Randy Collins. “This was start No. 2 for him and he's definitely the heart of this team. He kept the hitters off balance. He had that curveball working great. He was getting ahead in counts.”

Martin struck out the first six batters he faced as Karns City built an early 6-0 lead.

He ran into a little trouble in the third when Union capitalized on a walk and an infield single on a two-run bloop hit by Cole Morris.

Martin settled down, struck out the side again in the fourth inning, and allowed just one ball — the Morris single — to leave the infield.

First-year Union coach Ange Salvo lamented his team's slow start.

“One of our coaches said we get better as we go,” Salvo said. “We just have to start the getting better in the first inning, not in the third inning.”

Karns City gave Martin plenty of runs to work with and took an 11-2 lead after three innings.

Gremlins' leadoff hitter Jimmy Thompson drew three walks, Martin scored three runs and had a pair of singles and Evan Stitt continued his hot start at the plate with a pair of RBI.

Karns City hitters struck out just three times against three Union pitchers.

“We're not that big hitting team, but putting it in play and making things happen is what we've focused on,” Collins said. “Jimmy does a great job up there. That's why he's No. 1 in the order. He takes a lot of pitches and helps us see what we're up against. He's been getting on base and been doing a great job for us.”

The Gremlins drew nine walks in the win.

But the offense sputtered after the third inning as left-hander Lucas Bowser and right-hander Luke Salvo relieved Union starter Dana Logue and kept Karns City off the board.

“We're getting better,” Ange Salvo said. “We're trying to keep our pitch counts down early. Lucas did a real nice job. He struggled the other night, so it was nice to see him come in and have success to get his confidence back. That was what he mentally needed.

“Luke came in and did a nice job,” the coach added. “We told him, 'Throw strikes and trust your defense.' He got some pop-ups and easy grounders. That's super important for us.”

Collins was not pleased with the offensive drought in the final three innings.

“They just went kind of dead,” Collins said. “You can't go for three innings and then take three innings off.”

Karns City is relying on a slew of younger players this season and several have already come through.

Freshman Tyler Yough had a pinch-hit single and sophomore Nolan Riley has been solid at first base, especially on defense.

He made a couple of scoops at first on low throws to save errors.

The Gremlins didn't commit a miscue against Union.

“He's quick. His glove is solid,” Collins said of Riley. “He's young and we expect he's going to miss a few, but he's going to get most of them.”

Union 002 000 0 — 2 2 3

Karns City 335 000 x — 11 7 0

W: Holden Martin 7IP (15K, 2BB). L: Dana Logue 2.1IP (1K, 5BB).

Union (0-2): Cole Morris 1B 2-RBI, Gavin Hawk 1B

Karns City (3-0): Martin 2-1B RBI 3-R, Evan Stitt 1B 2-RBI, Colin Williams 1B RBI, Hunter Schaffner 1B, Tyler Yough 1B, Jarrod Stewart 2B

Saturday: Armstrong at Karns City at Kelly Automotive Park, 2 p.m.