Holden Martin still wears a bulky brace on his left elbow.

It serves as a reminder of where he has come from and the adversity he has conquered.

Martin, now a senior pitcher and second baseman for the Karns City baseball team, badly dislocated his elbow during the winter of his sophomore season while playing basketball for the Gremlins.

Three months later as he was sliding into second base, he dislocated the elbow again.

The second injury wiped out most of his sophomore season and he missed part of last season as well.

Now healthy and throwing strikes — the right-hander struck out six, walked one and scattered three hits in a 7-1 Karns City win Thursday night over Brookville at Kelly Automotive Park — Martin appreciates his time on the hill now even more.

“It was tough,” Martin said. “Baseball is the thing I love. It's something that's been in my life all my life, and not having it for that long was real rough, but we got through it.

“I say I learn from chapters in my life,” Martin added. “That was a chapter. You have to move on from it. You have to live with it and it makes you a stronger man.”

And, perhaps, a stronger pitcher.

After a shaky start in which he walked the leadoff hitter and gave up a single to the next Brookville batter in the top of the first inning, Martin only allowed three Raider baserunners the rest of the game.

The Karns City bats did the rest as Evan Stitt went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI, Jimmy Thompson rapped out a pair of singles and Nolan Riley had a single and three RBI for the Gremlins.

Eric Dodd pitched two perfect innings of relief for Karns City.

“It was great scenario for us to start the season,” said Karns City coach Randy Collins. “It was exactly what we envisioned. Holden was anxious in the first inning, but once he got the nerves down and got the ball down, he was good.”

Martin is the ace now after the graduation of Matt Yough, who carried that role for the better part of three seasons.

In his down time, Martin had the chance to study Yough.

“I learned from probably one of the best pitchers in Karns City history in Matt Yough,” Martin said. “Following him for the three years I followed him, I learned a lot.”

“It's definitely great to take the crown now and be our ace on the mound,” Martin added.

Martin threw all fastballs in the first inning, but then mixed in a change-up and a dominating curveball to keep Brookville off balance.

The only run pushed across for the Raiders was an unearned one in the top of the first inning.

“The curveball was probably my best pitch today,” Martin said. “I started sitting guys down with that. First game of the year I was just trying to throw strikes.”

“Fastball is 1A. Curveball is 1B,” Martin added. “I feel confident in throwing the curveball down in the count.”

And Karns City is confident now with a healthy Martin leading its pitching staff.

“It's nice that it was his left elbow,” Collins said, smiling. “He's a gamer. He's a leader. These guys look up to him.

“We did things right,” Collins added. “We got guys on base. We put the ball in play. We had good situational hitting. We did everything that was good tonight.”

Brookville 100 000 0 — 1 3 1

Karns City 103 030 x — 7 9 2

W: Holden Martin 5IP (6K, 1BB). L: Ben Reitz 3IP (4K, 2BB).

Brookville (0-1): Logan Thrush 1B 2B, Austin Cook 1B

Karns City (1-0): Jimmy Thompson 2-1B, Martin 1B, Evan Stitt 2-1B 2B 2-RBI, Nolan Riley 1B 3-RBI, Marcus Lantz 1B, Colton Hutchison 1B

Tuesday: Karns City at Keystone