Edison baseball heading into postseason BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer After a 6-4 win over division rival J.P. Stevens High School, the Edison High School baseball team improved to 13-3 on the season and will be one of the favored teams to win the GreaterMiddlesex Conference Tournament, which gets under way this week. The win also put the Eagles in a first-place tie with Stevens in the Red Division standings. The cross-town rivals are expected to garner the top two seeds in the tournament. "We should be number 1 or number 2," Edison head coach Vin Abene said. "One of us should definitely get the top seed." Either way, the Eagles will see tournament action at 11 a.m. May 10 in the round of 16 against an as-yet-to-bedetermined opponent. Edison's Jared Shukis tossed a complete game to earn the victory while six different Eagles drove in runs. "Jared had a 5-0 lead after four innings and only gave up two hits at that point," Abene said. "He started to tire at the end, and Stevens started hitting him. They are such a good hitting team that we expected them to eventually get the bat on the ball. Jared got himself out of a couple of rough spots and really did an outstanding job." Edison'sDavidGoodman came upwith a big hit in the team's three-run fourth inning. Goodman's RBI double knocked in Shawn Renner. In addition to six different Eagles driving in runs, the team finished the game with an impressive three sacrifice flys. "Everybody contributed in some way," Abene said. "That's how it's been all year. Each kid has done something, from the lead-off guy to the number 9 hitter, to help us win games." Edison picked up momentum earlier in the week with wins over St. Joseph's, Carteret, and Piscataway. All four of last week's victories came off the arm of a complete game pitching performance. In addition to Shukis' complete-game win over Stevens, teammates Renner, Mike Banwer and Chris Virag all went the distance. Renner needed to put in eight innings of work since the Eagles needed the extra frame to beat St. Joe's 4-2. Shukis, batting right around the .500 mark, knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth. "Shawn is now 5-0 after that rough start on opening day in our loss to Stevens," Abene said. "He's really stepped it up since that loss." Shukis supplied another big hit in the team's 5-2 win over Piscataway in which Virag earned the complete-game victory. In the team's 9-3 win over Carteret, it was Banwer that went the distance in just his first start of the season. "Mike did a fantastic job for us," Abene said. "To come in and not walk anybody in just his first start was very impressive." Prior to its first-round game in the GMC Tournament this weekend, Edison will look to stay red-hot against Hunterdon Central today at 3:45 p.m.