After defeating the Bearcats (33-26), the Demon Deacons (38-21) are set to face Tennessee in a game  Wake Forest must win to avoid elimination. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU/ESPN+.

Sophomore lefthander Matthew Dallas threw his longest outing in a Wake Forest uniform, throwing 7.2 innings, scattering three runs, eight hits and a walk. Additionally, it marked the longest start from a Wake Forest pitcher this season.

The Demon Deacons now move to 5-0 this season when Dallas throws 5.0 or more innings. He was just the fifth pitcher in NCAA Regional play this season to not allow a run in the first seven innings pitched.

After allowing the first two runners to reach in the first, he retired 16 of 17, allowing just his second hit of the game in the sixth inning. That base runner was erased one pitch later when Dallas induced a ground ball for a double play to get out of the inning.

Junior Austin Hawke became the seventh Demon Deacon this season to reach double-digit home runs, hitting his 10th to give the Deacs a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning. It marked the Deacs 10th home run of the Knoxville Regional and the 14th overall in the postseason in just four games played.

Hawke has now homered eight times in the last 12 games, dating back to the Gardner-Webb finale on May 4.

The 11th home run of the weekend came off the bat of graduate student Matt Scannell when he gave the Deacs a 8-0 lead in the sixth. The homer was his 11th of the season which is tied for the fourth-highest total on the team.

With junior Marek Houston hitting his 14th home run of the season in the eighth to give Wake Forest a 10-0 lead, the Demon Deacons had now hit 12 home runs in the three games played in the Knoxville Regional with an estimated total distance of 4,640 feet or approximately 0.87 miles.

Overall this season, the Deacs have slugged 112 home runs which is the fourth-highest total in program history and marks the fourth-straight season Wake Forest has had 100 or more home runs:

The seven Demon Deacons to have 10 or more home runs this season are the most in program history since at least 1999.

Junior Jack Winnay added to his RBI total with a clutch double down the left field line in the third inning to plate a pair. He now has 63 RBI which ranks second on the team while ranking in the top five in the ACC pending the results around the country.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Shortstop Marek Houston collected his 14th double of the year, but was left stranded at third in the top of the first.
• Starter Matthew Dallas worked around a leadoff single and a hit-by-pitch with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to right to get out of the first unharmed.
• Dallas worked a quick second to keep the game scoreless through two innings.
• Wake Forest got on the board first with four runs in the top of the third.
  • Catcher Matt Conte was hit by a pitch to put the leadoff man on.
  • Right fielder Matt Scannell battled back from an 0-2 count to earn a walk.
  • Houston collected his second hit of the game with a hard-hit single into right center to plate Conte.
  • Third baseman Kade Lewis drew a walk for the third free 90 of the inning to load the bases.
  • Junior Jack Winnay lasered a double off the wall in left to drive in two runs and make it 3-0 in favor of the Demon Deacons.
  • Freshman Dalton Wentz drove in the fourth run of the inning for the Deacs when his sac fly to center scored Lewis from third.
• Going back to work with the lead, Dallas recorded his first three-up, three-down inning in the bottom of the third.
• A pair of miscues from Cincinnati helped Wake push another run across in the top of the fourth to make it 5-0.
• Junior Austin Hawke continued the power surge for Wake Forest in the Knoxville Regional with the team’s 10th home run in the last three games, depositing a solo home run in the fifth.
  • Hawke’s solo shot to left field left the bat at 95 mph, traveling 363 feet.
  • Hawke becomes the seventh Demon Deacon to reach double-digit home runs this season.
• Dallas worked another 1, 2, 3 inning in the bottom of the fifth.
• After a single by sophomore Javar Williams to start the sixth, Scannell destroyed the first pitch he saw to extend the Wake Forest lead to 8-0.
  • Scannell’s 11th of the year left the bat at 113 mph, traveling 417 feet for a no-doubter.
• For the third-straight inning, Dallas sat the Bearcats down in order in the sixth.
• After a pair of one-out singles, Dallas got a pair of flyouts to keep Cincinnati off the scoreboard through seven innings.
• Houston deposited his 14th home run of the season in the eighth to push the Wake Forest lead to 10-0 after seven and a half innings.
  • The two-run shot to left field left the bat at 102 mph, traveling 395 feet.
• The Bearcats got on the board with three runs in the bottom half of the eighth.
• Reliever Luke Schmolke recorded the final four outs of the contest to send Wake Forest to the Knoxville Regional Final with a 10-3 win over the Bearcats.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

• In the longest outing of his career, sophomore Matthew Dallas preserved the Wake Forest bullpen for tonight’s Regional final with 7.2 innings on the mound.
  • The Memphis, Tenn. native threw a career high 115 pitches frames to silence the Bearcats’ offense through 7 innings, before Cincinnati got on the board in the eighth inning.
• After allowing the first two runners to reach in the first, he retired 16 of 17, allowing just his second hit of the game in the sixth inning. That base runner was erased one pitch later when Dallas induced a ground ball for a double play to get out of the inning.

STAGGERING STATISTICS

• Junior Marek Houston leads the team with 26 multi-hit efforts on the year. In games where Houston has at least two hits, the Demon Deacons are 20-6, as opposed to just 18-15 in games with one hit or less.
  • Throughout his career, Houston has recorded 57 multi-hit efforts, with Wake compiling a 43-14 record.
• One of the keys to the Deacs’ success over the last three years has been scoring first, as Wake Forest has gone 86-24 in games where they got on the board first since the 2023 season. Under Tom Walter, Wake is 319-127-1 when scoring first, including a 24-6 mark during the 2025 campaign.
• Wake Forest improves to 22-1 when scoring 10 or more runs this season.

FROM COACH WALTER

“What a performance by Matthew Dallas today. That’s as good a pitching performance when it mattered as I’ve ever seen, matching what Rhett Lowder did in Omaha to give us a chance to win that game. That’s why we brought this guy to Wake Forest. We knew he could do this. I’d get Matthew a lot of credit. He had some scuffles, middle part of the year, and reinvented himself, changed art slots and made some changes. And since then, he’s been really good for us. And it’s a hard thing to do in the middle of the year and especially with a guy that’s as big a prospect as Matthew Dallas. So really proud of Maddie and the work he did to be in this moment and how much he wanted the baseball. Offensively, today, obviously, we did enough. Marek Houston, and our older guys. Yesterday, it was our younger guys that got it done. Today was the older guys. Marek Houston obviously had a huge day. Jack Winnay had a huge double down the left field line. Scanny (Matt Scannell), with the home run late in the game to extend it a little bit. So yesterday was the young bucks, and today was the older guys. And it’s good. We only used two arms. That’s huge moving forward in this. Again, coming into this, we’re trying to scratch our head and figure out we got 27 innings and now we’ve got a solution for that, thanks to Matthew Dallas.” – Head Coach Tom Walter

UP NEXT

Wake Forest takes on Tennessee in the Knoxville Regional at 6 p.m. tonight on ESPN+.

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