Punahou put the patient approach to good use yesterday against Iolani.

The Buffanblu drew 11 walks and sophomore right-hander Jeeter Ishida pitched six solid innings as Punahou beat host Iolani, 8-4, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu game.

The result created a logjam atop the ILH standings with Iolani (6-2), Punahou (5-2) and Mid-Pacific (4-2) each having two losses.

Punahou took a 4-0 lead in the first inning after the first five batters reached against Iolani ace Wally Marciel.

Maika Murashige led off with a walk and advanced to third on a double to right by Matt Suiter. Bucky Aona was intentionally walked to load the bases for Steven Dannaway, who slammed a ground-rule double to left-center. Ishida followed with a bloop single to left to score Aona and Dannaway.

"We had some clutch hits," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said. "Dannaway's hit in the first inning broke it open for us. We've been struggling with men in scoring position."

Ishida scattered six hits, issued one walk, hit a batter and struck out four.

"My fastball wasn't really good today, so I was using a lot of offspeed stuff — curveball and a splitter," Ishida said.

He threw 93 pitches, 57 for strikes. Ishida's only blemish was a wind-aided two-run homer by Travis Nishioka in the third inning that made it 4-2.

"As a sophomore, for him to pitch well in this league is a credit to himself," Kadooka said. "He's worked hard to physically be able to (do well) and more so with his ability to throw strikes in tough situations."

Marciel, a left-hander, allowed five hits, five runs — four earned — and five walks with five strikeouts in five innings. Three Raiders relievers combined to walk six more batters.

Three of the walks were intentional, and four Punahou players who walked wound up scoring.

"That's why they're the two-time defending state champions," Iolani coach Dean Yonamine said. "You can't take anything away from them. We have to play perfect in order to beat them, and the walks didn't help any."

The Raiders also committed four errors, which allowed three unearned runs to score, while the Buffanblu were flawless defensively.

Punahou added an unearned run in the fifth and scored three times in the sixth to take an 8-2 advantage.

In the seventh, Iolani scored two runs off Scott Hiramoto and had two on and one out. But Hiramoto got a fly out to left and a strikeout to end it.

The key to the game, according to Ishida and Kadooka, was jumping on Marciel.

"When you get a lead like that you just want to throw strikes and let your defense do the work for you," Ishida said. "My defense did great for me today."

Kadooka said the early lead helped "settle our team down."

Punahou's Dannaway finished 2 for 2 with a double, three RBIs and two walks. Murashige walked three times and scored three runs.

Marciel batted 3 for 4 to lead Iolani's 10-hit attack.

PUNAHOU (5-2) 400 013 0—8 7 0

IOLANI (6-2) 002 000 2—4 10 4

Jeeter Ishida, Scott Hiramoto (7) and Zachary Kometani. Wally Marciel, Jon Okada (6), Reyn Nagamine (6), Kelsey Outram (7) and Jarvis Nohara. W—Ishida. L—Marciel.

Leading hitters: Punahou—Steve Dannaway 2-2, double, 3 RBIs; Matt Suiter double; Maika Murashige 3 runs. Iolani—Travis Nishioka 2-4, two-run homer; Marciel 3-4; Brett Hasegawa 2-4; Nohara 2-2.

Reported by John Krason

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.