Tennessee transfer slugger Alberto Osuna filed a complaint against the NCAA in a federal court on Wednesday just two days before the start of the 2025 season, KnoxNews Mike Wilson first reported.
Osuna is currently ineligible to play this season after exhausting his Division-I eligibility last season. The power hitting first baseman spent two season at Walters State Junior College before transferring and playing three seasons at North Carolina.
According to the complaint, Osuna is claiming the NCAA’s eligibility rules are in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Osuna’s complaint is the same that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia filed against the NCAA in November. A federal judge eventually ruled in favor of Pavia, who played two seasons at a junior college, and forced the NCAA to grant him another year of eligibility.
When it lost the Pavia lawsuit, the NCAA gave a blanket waiver to former junior college athletes who completed their third year of Division-I eligibility during the 2024-25 academic year. But they did not extend that waiver to athletes like Osuna who exhausted their third year of eligibility during the 2024-25 academic year.
Alberto Osuna Sanchez v. National Collegiate Athletic Association argues that the ruling should be extended to Osuna’s case due to the similar track records of Pavia and Osuna.
“Although Pavia and Osuna have identical collegiate eligibility records (one year disregarded for COVID-19, one JUCO year, and three Division I years), the NCAA’s Blanket Waiver does not, on its face, extend relief to Osuna,” the complaint states. “Unlike football, collegiate baseball is played in the Spring. Therefore, Osuna must use his fourth year of Division I eligibility during the Spring 2025 baseball season. Because the NCAA Blanket Waiver extends eligibility only to athletes using their fourth year of Division I eligibility for Fall 2025 or Spring 2026 seasons, Osuna is not covered by the waiver. This arbitrary distinction harms Osuna and is another example of the NCAA’s unlawful restrictions on the market for Division I athletics.”
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Meeting with the media to preview Tennessee’s season-opening series against Hofstra, Vols’ head coach Tony Vitello echoed the same sentiment.
“The only difference in this case (Diego Pavia case) from the one that took place in the winter is he plays baseball and the other guy plays football,” Vitello said on Tuesday.
The NCAA’s argument will likely be that Osuna exhausted his eligibility in a prior academic year and that if Osuna gets an extra year of eligibility that would have to apply to any athlete that ever played junior college sports and is now out of Division-I eligibility.
Osuna also filed for a temporary restraining order against the NCAA that would keep them from enforcing their eligibility rules, effectively making the incoming Tennessee transfer immediately eligible. Pavia also filed for a temporary restraining order in November but that was denied.
The Mauldin, South Carolina native getting a temporary restraining order approved is much more significant than in Pavia’s case with the 2025 season only two days away.
Osuna was a three-year starter for North Carolina at both first base and designated hitter. The right-handed bat combined to hit .259 with 32 doubles, 45 home runs and 140 RBIs in his three seasons at North Carolina.
During the 2024 season, Osuna hit .281 with 17 doubles,14 home runs and 56 RBIs on the Tar Heels run to the College World Series. Despite not joining Tennessee’s roster until two weeks before first pitch, Osuna is the favorite to start at first base for the Vols this season.
