Tennessee transfer pitcher Chase Burns announces commitment to Wake Forest

Tennessee transfer pitcher Chase Burns has announced his commitment to Wake Forest. Burns made the news official via Instagram Wednesday night.

Burns entered the transfer portal June 27 after two seasons with the Vols. He was a preseason All-SEC selection and finished with a 5-3 record with a 4.25 ERA in 18 appearances, including eight starts, this past season. Although some chatter came up about a potential return to Tennessee, he ultimately chose Wake Forest, where he could play a key part in replacing MLB-bound Rhett Lowder.

Burns found a groove after moving to the bullpen in April, amassing an 8-1 record since April 21 with two saves and saw his ERA drop from 5.26 to 4.25 in that time. He also earned SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week honors on April 24.

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One of Burns’ biggest performances came at the College World Series when he threw 6.0 innings of relief, striking out nine and allowing just two hits to propel Tennessee past Stanford for the Volunteers’ first victory at the CWS since 2001.

As a freshman in 2022, Burns made 14 starts and had an 8-2 record to go with a 2.91 ERA.

Wake Forest was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament this past season and made it to the College World Series for the first time since winning the whole thing back in 1955. The Demon Deacons finished with a 54-12 overall record and a 22-7 mark in ACC play before seeing their season come to an end against eventual national champion LSU in Omaha.

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello on Chase Burns: ‘We’ve kind of known that he would be gone for a while’

After Burns hit the portal, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello opened up about that decision during an interview on 99.1 The Sports Animal.

“Yeah, there is a lot going on [with the transfer portal], and that one you asked about is a good case of it’s actually pretty straightforward,” Tony Vitello said of Chase Burns. “We’ve kind of known that he would be gone for a while. But a good case to be careful about what you read on Twitter, because like I said, that’s been pretty straightforward.”

Although Burns threw well out of the bullpen, Vitello indicated that might’ve played a role in his decision to leave Tennessee and enter the portal.

“You know, this season went in a lot of different ways. And as coaches, we’ve got to do what we think is best for the whole group and find a way to try and win games,” Vitello said.

“And in the end, I think that worked out fairly well. But for his case, he’s going to take his efforts somewhere else. It’s been a deal where he’s done more than a lot for the program, not just last year, and of course this year, too. And in the course of this year he became the No. 1 popular pitcher, maybe in the country. But definitely in his class. And is probably ranked No. 1 as a pitcher in his class at this point. But it’s a different day and age, so he’ll take those efforts on somewhere else and we wish him the best.”