Jake Tsukada broke a scoreless duel with a bases-loaded triple as No. 3 Punahou overpowered No. 6 Kamehameha 14-2 on a steamy, high noon battle at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park on Saturday.

With the TKO, five-inning win, Punahou remained unbeaten in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu at 5-0 (13-1-1 overall). Kamehameha dropped its second league game in a row and is now 4-2 (8-5).

Tsukada also lined a two-run single in a nine-run fourth inning by the Buffanblu.

“We just try to take it day by day,” said Tsukada, a shortstop who leads a stellar infield. “We don’t really focus on when we’re going to play (‘Iolani). We just look at our next opponent, which is Maryknoll, so we’ll focus on Maryknoll.”

Punahou will meet Maryknoll on Tuesday at Ala Wai Community Park.

The onslaught at the plate was more than enough to support starting pitcher Matt McConnell, who scattered four hits, struck out seven and walked just one in four innings.

“In the ’pen, all my pitches felt pretty good, but when I got in the game I started to lose focus a little bit on my off-speed, so I’ve got to work on that,” the right-hander said. “My fastball and curveball were working.”

Kamehameha starting pitcher Christian DeJesus seemed primed to go toe to toe with his counterpart. He struck out two in the second inning, and McConnell had three Ks going into the third frame.

DeJesus walked Cody Hirano to lead off the third, and after a sacrifice bunt by Matt Nishimura, DeJesus hit Kalae Harrison and walked Kirk Terada-Herzer to load the bases. The Warriors ace was up 0-2 on Tsukada, the No. 3 hitter in Punahou’s lineup.

Tsukada whipped the ball to the right-field corner, clearing the bases and sliding into third base without a throw.

“I’m just looking to put a good swing on it. We worked a lot this offseason and during season on hunting speeds,” Tsukada said. “I just tried to put the barrel on the ball, put it in play, make something happen. It was a change-up I think.”

DeJesus got Aaron Tom on a groundout, but Koa Eldredge followed with an opposite-field single to score Tsukada for a 4-0 lead.

The Warriors battled back in the bottom of the third. Keala Alcon led off with a walk and Kaeden Shim singled. After McConnell struck out Josiah Pekelo, Hanu Racoma singled to load the bases.

Alcon scored on Javyn Pimental’s groundout to first, and Shim later came home on a wild pitch, cutting the lead to 4-2.

Then came a wild fourth inning. Punahou sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring nine times on just three hits. Two Kamehameha errors helped, as did six walks, two passed balls, two wild pitches and a hit batter by a combination of four pitchers.

“We got some momentum, had them on two-strike counts,” Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa said of the key Punahou hits, as well as the walks.

McConnell got up twice to throw and stay loose during his team’s long inning, then struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Tom doubled with one out, and went to third on a wild pitch by new pitcher Casey Kitagawa. Eldredge reached base on a fielding error, and Tom scored from second base for the final run of the game.

“It was close for a while, then we had mistakes,” Kitagawa said. “We’ll go back and try to focus on ourselves and getting better.”

Kamehameha will visit Mid-Pacific on Tuesday.