Knoxville, Tenn. – The former baseball player of the Junior University Alberto Osuna will go to the Federal Court while trying to be eligible to play to defend the national champion of Tennessee this season.
Osuna played the 2021 season at Walters State Community College before transferring to North Carolina, where he played during the last three seasons. He is arguing that the year he spent at Walters State should not cost him an eligibility season of Division I.
Vanderbilt's field marshal, Diego Pavia, already won a court order that allowed him to play one more season next fall after a federal judge ruled the time he spent in a Junior university should not count against his eligibility.
“The case of Pavia adjusts to Osuna as a glove and, like Pavia, Osuna should be given a precaution United States for the East district of Tennessee.
After spending last season in North Carolina, Osuna believed that he had no more eligibility of Division I and was transferred to the Division II Tampa program, where he was part of the Spartan team the past fall.
Pavia, who led the New Mexico Military Institute to a National Championship of the Junior University 2021, played in the state of New Mexico in 2022-23 before transferring to Vanderbilt. He won a court order in December allowing him to continue playing to Vanderbilt in 2025.
After Pavia won his case, Osuna believed that he could obtain another year of eligibility of division I, so he entered the transfer portal and landed in Tennessee. Osuna said that Tennessee submitted an exemption request on behalf of Osuna on February 3, but the NCAA has not issued a decision.
Tennessee opens his season on Friday upon receiving Hofstra.
“Given the urgency of the situation of Osuna, I could not wait for the NCAA to issue a decision about its request for exemption,” Hatmaker said in his complaint.
The NCAA has appealed to Pavia's ruling, but offered an exemption that allowed athletes in similar situations to play in 2025-26. The NCAA said that the exemption was for athletes “who attended and competed in an NCAA school for one or more years to remain eligible and compete in 2025-26 if those athlete students had used their last competition season during 2024 – 25 academic year and meet all other eligibility requirements (for example, progress towards the degree, five -year eligibility period) “.
Hatmaker said that the exemption would not help Osuna because baseball is a spring sport and that his next season does not take place during the 2025-26 school year.
“This arbitrary distinction harms Osuna and is another example of the illegal restrictions of the NCAA in the market for the athletics of division I,” Hatmaker complaint said.
The argument made in the case of Pavia and now in the case of Osuna is that the statutes of the NCAA violate the Sherman Law by restricting the free market. The idea is that by counting the time they spent in the Junior universities against their eligibility of division I, they prevents them from benefiting from the name, the image and similarity opportunities that they would have received playing four full years in a program of division I.
Osuna hit .259 with a percentage based on .359, 45 homers and 140 races promoted in 177 career games in North Carolina in the last three seasons. He hit .281 with a percentage based on .376, 14 homers and 56 races promoted in 62 games last season while helping the Tar Heels to arrive at the College World Series.
