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OREM — With one out remaining on his first no-hitter of the year, Crimson Cliffs starting pitcher Beau Sampson watched head coach Justin Abbott head to the mound Saturday afternoon.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound senior left-hander wasn't surprised, though.
Sampson's celebratory walk-off into the crowd was eclipsed by senior Aaron Morris, who induced the final ground ball on a gem of a game as the Mustangs clinched consecutive 4A state baseball titles with a 13-0 win over region rival Snow Canyon at UCCU Ballpark.
"I told my coach, I want to give our senior closer one last out. It's not all just about me throwing the no-hitter; I wanted to give my teammate one last out. He deserved it," said Sampson, who fanned three in the win. "I'll go out there and get a few outs, and then you take me out to give him one last one. That's exactly what happened, and he did the job."
Sampson's no-no through 4.2 innings had plenty of help, too. The towering southpaw pitched to contact, inducing eight ground balls that his infield managed with relative ease.
As he exited the game, Abbott made sure the Mustangs and the large crowd of accompanying fans and parents recognized it, too.
"That's the type of guys that these are, the type of teammates; they want to get the next guy up," Abbott said. "They love each other; we've been talking about that a lot. He gave Aaron that ball, and he came back in the count to get a ground ball.
"I think that's the third or fourth no-hitter that Aaron's been a part of this year, and the first one that Beau's thrown. It was a good way to go out."
So in a way, everybody got what they needed — and deserved, the head coach added.
"I wanted those guys to leave their last high school moment to everybody who supported us through this year, last year and since we've been open" he said, "and Beau earned that. I was happy for him."
Less than 24 hours earlier on the same field, Crimson Cliffs held off Snow Canyon's rally attempt with six runs in the fifth and six innings to pull away for a 9-2 win.
There was no such drama or miracle comeback this time.
Brexten Starley went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, three RBI, two runs scored, a double and a home run to lead the Mustangs (26-4) at the plate, and Petey Soto was 2-for-2 with two RBI and a triple.
Crimson Cliffs struck early, scoring three runs on an error to take a 3-0 lead after one. Jayger Baldwin, Trey Evans and Starley all came home when a chopper back to the pitcher was misplayed at first base to give Sampson all the edge he needed.
"It's definitely a relief to go out there with a lead like that," Sampson said. "It's a little more stress off your back, but you've still got to go out there and compete."
But the Mustangs did most of their damage in the sixth, when the defending champs batted around in the inning to score seven runs on seven hits. Petey had a pair of singles with an RBI and a run scored, and Starley and Evans each added an RBI double for Crimson Cliffs in the inning to push the Warriors to the brink of the 10-run rule and back-to-back championships.
"I think it just shows that we're resilient," Sampson said. "We can compete, and we don't get complacent. We had a bullseye on our back this entire year; everybody wanted to beat us.
"We came out there, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind we were going to win this."
