Tennessee baseball first baseman Alberto Osuna is still awaiting to receive eligibility from the NCAA, Vols head coach Tony Vitello said on Tuesday afternoon.
“As of now, he’s waiting for clearance to being eligible,” Vitello said. “I don’t even know the specific terms. The one good thing is to come in halfway through the year and get everyone to like you and be on board with who you are is not easy. But if you’re around that kid, which I think you guys will be, you’ll see why it’s easy for him. He’s an incredible kid.
Osuna was a late addition to the Vols’ roster, enrolling at Tennessee last week just under two weeks before Tennessee opened up its 2025 season.
The Mauldin, South Carolina native played the last three seasons at North Carolina but was out of Division-I eligibility following the 2024 season and transferred to Division-II power the University of Tampa.
But Osuna spent the first two years of his career at Walters State Junior College and the Diego Pavia ruling that stated the NCAA couldn’t count junior college seasons against a players eligibility at the Division-I level opened up the possibility for Osuna to return to Division-I.
While the NCAA made a blanket statement awarding an extra year of eligibility to football players affected by the ruling, they have yet to do so with baseball players who exhausted their eligibility last season. That is why Osuna is still awaiting word on whether he’ll be eligible next season.
“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.
The good news for Tennessee is that Osuna is not the only player on a Division-I roster that needs this ruling to be awarded eligibility this season. The expectation is that the NCAA will award eligibility to baseball players affected by the Pavia ruling but the timing is uncertain.
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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. The slugger hit a career-best 20 home runs during the 2022 season.
First base is one of the biggest question marks on Tennessee’s roster. Alex Perry and Dalton Bargo both competed for playing time at first base back in the fall with neither having an abundance of experience at first base.
But Perry left the Tennessee baseball program earlier this month due to personal reasons leaving Bargo and backup catchers Stone Lawless and Levi Clark as the candidates to start at first base. With projected starting catcher Cannon Peebles not working behind the plate due to an arm issue at the moment, Lawless and Clark have had to spend more time there.
If Osuna is not eligible for the start of the season, Bargo, Andrew Fischer and freshman Levi Clark will be the top candidates to start at first base for the Vols.
Tennessee baseball opens up its season on Friday afternoon against Hofstra at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch for the three game series is at 4:30 p.m. ET. The SEC Network+ is broadcasting the game.
