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For Chris Sampson, there was simply no tomorrow.

"I just wanted to leave it all out on the field," he said.

Sampson was at his absolute best in his last start of the season Thursday night, pitching a complete-game shutout, and needed every bit of it as the Avalanche secured a 1-0 victory over the Wilmington Blue Rocks at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.

"All my pitches were going for strikes," Sampson said. "I felt like I was in a zone. Whatever I threw seemed to work.

"What a way to finish up."

The Avalanche (26-40) has just four games left as the Carolina League season winds down.

Sampson (7-11) allowed just four hits, none for extra bases, and no walks. He struck out five.

"He was very impressive," said Avalanche manager Russ Nixon. "He made all his pitches; he was making them look foolish."

The Wilmington pitching staff matched Sampson. Salem managed just five hits off three Blue Rocks pitchers. Starter Dusty Hughes went five innings, allowed three hits and struck out three.

Reliever Steve Chamberlain gave up a hit, hit a batter and struck out two in 2 2/3 innings.

Reliever Nate Hoelscher got the last out of the eight inning, but Salem's Gavin Wright led off the ninth with a double off the wall in left center. Hoelscher hit Pat Peavey with a pitch, the second time Peavey had received such treatment, then struck out Mark Saccomanno. John Fagan flied out to right, then Wade Robinson hit a grounder toward third that Mitch Maier booted and then overthrew first allowing Wright to score the lone run.

"Thank God we won," Nixon said. "The pitching dominated both sides. It was up for grabs every inning."

Sampson's ERA dropped to 3.80.

"It was by far my best start ever," he said. "When I went out in the first inning my mechanics felt good, the ball was coming out of my hand nice, I had good life in my fastball. I thought ,'tonight's going to be fun.'"

Sampson, who had not pitched eight innings in a game before Thursday, said Nixon told him after seven that he would be going back out to the mound for the eighth.

When he returned to the dugout after three straight infield groundouts in the eighth, Sampson said he asked to pitch the ninth.

"He was pretty emphatic about it," Nixon said. "If he felt that good about himself, I'm going to give him a shot.

"Now he can take that game right there and work on it all year mentally."

Sampson said he plans to work on gaining some weight and strength in the offseason.

"Hopefully what the Astros have seen is good enough that they'll move me up and then, I'll be one step closer to the dream," he said.

In the short term, his goals are simpler.

"I'll probably sleep a while," Sampson said. "See my family and friends and my dog. Take a vacation. Go fishing. Hunting and fishing, definitely."