The St. Joseph Mustangs opened the Heart of American Regional Tuesday at Phil Welch Stadium with a 9-2 victory over the Omaha Strike Zone.

The winner of the regional will qualify for the NBC World Series, but St. Joe’s summer college baseball team is hosting the regional and playing in it to stay sharp for the World Series.  If the Mustangs win, the second-place team will also go to Wichita.

On Tuesday, the Mustangs built an 8-0 lead after five innings as they scored one in the first, two runs in the third inning, one more in the fourth and they broke it open with a four-run fifth inning.

Mark Robinette went 3-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI, while Shane Segovia, Carlos Rodriguez and Kyle Richards added two hits each.

Jordan Guida hit his eighth home run of the season in the victory for St. Joseph.

Mustangs’ starting pitcher Adam Maddox improved to 4-1 as he went seven innings and allowed just two runs and four hits.  Maddox struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.

St. Joe improves to 34-17 this season and they’ll play MINK League opponent Nevada in the next round of the regional at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday inside Phil Welch Stadium.