Tennessee transfer pitcher Matthew Dallas commits to Wake Forest

Former Tennessee pitcher Matthew Dallas has finally found a home in the transfer portal. He entered the portal before the end of the Volunteers’ 2024 national championship run. And on Wednesday evening, he announced he’ll be playing for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, one of the top programs in the ACC.

Go Deacs! pic.twitter.com/nN4S1aM3W6

— MatthewDallas (@MatthewDallas20) July 10, 2024

This season, Dallas went 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA in 15 appearances with the Volunteers.

The 6’5 lefty is a Memphis, TE native and played high school ball at Briarcrest Christian School, where he “pieced together an ERA of 0.80 in 52.2 innings and struck out 102 batters his senior season” ahead of his entry to the Tennessee program, according to the Volunteers’ athletics website.

Tennessee enjoyed a magical run to the national championship this year, the first ever in program history. They won 60 games to the College World Series crown, becoming the first SEC team in history to win 60 games in a single season. They also became just the fourth team in SEC history to win the SEC regular season title, the SEC Tournament title, and the national title in the same season.

Wake Forest has quickly become one of the top programs in the ACC the past few seasons. They made their first College World Series appearance since 1955 in 2023. They were guided by Rhett Lowder, one of the best pitchers in all of college baseball, on that magical run in 2023. In 2024, Wake made it to the NCAA Tournament, before losing their first two games in the Greenville Regional.

And this year, the Demon Deacons were home to another transfer from Tennessee, pitcher Chase Burns. Burns posted historic numbers this year for Wake Forest, finishing with 191 total strikeouts, ranking him third all-time in the ACC for a single-season. He also was just the third pitcher to be named a Dick Howser Trophy finalist.

He finished with a 10-1 overall record, posting a 2.71 ERA. Burns earned first team All-American honors from d1baseball.com and he’s also expected to be a Top 10 overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft. D1Baseball ranks him as their No. 5 overall prospect leading up to the draft.

On3’s Alex Weber also contributed to this article.