ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - A four-run first inning turned out to be all the run support Peyton Leeper needed.
Leeper tossed 8 innings of seven-hit baseball to lead the Jefferson City Renegades to a 7-2 win Saturday night against the St. Joseph Mustangs in MINK League play.
Leeper, who led off the game with a walk, scored the first run on a Thomas Ruether sacrifice fly.
Dede Cole crossed the plate when Logan Haring reached on an error and Lincoln Orellana made it 4-0 Renegades with a double.
Orellana finished 3-for-4 with two RBI while Ruether went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Jefferson City added a run in the fourth when Cole scored on a wild pitch. Haring increased the lead to 6-0 by making it home on a passed ball in the seventh.
The newest Renegade Michael Skinner, who was added to the roster this week, scored the game's final run in the ninth on a Ryan Missal single.
Skinner, a former Jefferson City Jay, got on with a two-out single and went to second on an Orellana single.
Leeper had his best outing of the season, giving up six singles and a double while walking one and striking out four.
Two of the Mustangs' hits came in the sixth when Jackson Dierenfeldt and Dylan Ketch smacked back-to-back singles, but a strikeout and flyout ended the threat.
Leeper retired the side in order in the first, fourth and eighth.
St Joseph did its damage in the ninth as Ketch and Jordan Maxson hit back-to-back singles and Drew Beazely added a two-RBI double.
Deejay Seelbach then struck out Derek Hussey to end the game.
Leeper's previous longest outing of the season was a six-inning performance June 16 against the Mustangs at Vivion Field. St. Joseph won that game 2-0.
Colton Kenagy took the loss for St. Joseph (13-5), allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in six innings.
Jefferson City (9-8) will head to Clarinda today to play the A's. Game time is 7 p.m.