Tennessee baseball capped off a successful weekend in Houston by knocking off Arizona 5-1 on Sunday afternoon. Following the win, Tony Vitello had a message for the NCAA while talking to the media, but it had nothing to do with his eighth Tennessee team.
“My take is the NCAA Tournament should have Tennessee as a No. 1 seed in the basketball tournament,” Vitello said.
Tennessee baseball and transfer first baseman Alberto Osuna are currently in a court battle with the NCAA over Osuna’s eligibility. Last week, a federal judge heard Osuna’s case for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA that would give him immediate eligibility. The judge has not made his decision on the case.
Osuna played two seasons of baseball at Walters State Community College and three seasons at North Carolina. Out of eligibility at the Division I level, Osuna transferred to Division II University of Tampa for the 2025 season. But after a federal court awarded Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia an extra year of eligibility based on the belief that junior college seasons can’t count against someone’s Division I eligibility, Osuna transferred to Tennessee hoping the precedent would apply to him too.
“That’s a pretty unique kid, pretty unique kid,” Vitello said of Osuna last week before the hearing. “So I hope karma is on his side. I can tell you that. The rest, I honestly have no idea. So I don’t mean to make any kind of political statement with that at all. I watched him play and the big homers and all that don’t really match up with the – he’s kind of a teddy bear, but also he’s got some fight to him and he’s a fun one to have around.”
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Vitello made his pro Tennessee basketball statement the day after the Vols knocked off No. 6 Alabama 79-76 as Jahmai Mashack connected from 35-feet at the buzzer. The Crimson Tide led by three points with the ball and 36 seconds left in the game before Tennessee used a late run to down Alabama.
After the win ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi bumped Tennessee up to the one-line but the Vols remain neck-and-neck with Alabama and Florida as the three teams battle for a one seed.
Tennessee needs to pick up two more wins to end the regular season this week to realistically hold on to the one seed. The Vols face Ole Miss on the road Wednesday night before hosting South Carolina in their regular season finale on Saturday.
Alabama and Florida face off against one another on Wednesday night before the Crimson Tide end their regular season at Auburn and Florida hosts Ole Miss in Gainesville.
