A losing streak was no reason for Aiea to deviate from its plan.

Na Alii beat Leilehua 11-6 at Fred Wright Park on Friday for their first win in four tries. They scored only two runs in their three-game losing streak but broke out of it with 10 hits against the Mules.

Aiea pitcher Jaryn Nakamoto allowed only one hit and outdueled Leilehua ace Cody Academia for four innings, but his coach took the ball away from him with a 9-1 lead to begin the fifth inning. The Mules, who also came in on a three-game losing streak, battled back against three Aiea relievers but couldn’t nail it down. Nakamoto threw 74 pitches but was coming out after four innings no matter what. Aiea coach Ryan Kato spent some time with pitching guru Tom House over the summer and has used a committee on the mound ever since. Aiea used 16 players in the 3-hour game.

"The one thing I am really (conscious of) is our pitching staff being healthy," Kato said. "I’ve learned a lot about how to take care of these players. We have a plan. His job is to give us X amount of innings and he did that."

Na Alii were held scoreless in only one inning — the second — and appeared to blow it open with five runs in the top of the fifth. Daylan Pajimola, Liwai Manoa, Patrick Villanueva and Jason Abeshima drove in runs in successive at-bats after chasing Academia, who threw 109 pitches and walked seven.

Villanueva, the designated hitter because he caught the day before, led the way for Na Alii with four hits and two walks, one of them intentional. Pajimola had three hits and Jared Uyeda added two. Villanueva was 3-for-4 in Aiea’s earlier meeting with Leilehua, a 10-9 win.

"(Villanueva) is swinging it, huh?" Kato said. "He’s always been a good hitter. He is our go-to hitter. He is one of those you don’t touch, let him take his cuts in practice and don’t say anything because he is on fire."

After Aiea put up the five runs in the top of the fifth, the Mules answered with five of their own in the bottom of the frame.

Leilehua got the first four hitters in the inning on base via three walks and a hit batsman, which was good enough to chase Aiea reliever Jaycob Alcantra before he could record an out. Jansen Kudaishi came in with the bases loaded and induced a ground ball that Aiea third baseman Jason Abeshima booted, then hit a batter and walked another one to make it 9-4. Kudaishi struck out the next batter and allowed a long sacrifice fly to center field for another run, but Brandon Smithe got picked off second on the throw home to end the threat.

"My hat goes off to Leilehua; they are a scrappy bunch," Kato said. "I am glad I beat that into our players before. I told them we were in for a battle, and I’m glad that my boys held it together. It was a total team effort; it is always a total team effort with us."