TBNL: Tennessee keeps winning without a big bat; George Mason sets a record

Plenty of battles have been waged with the NCAA in recent years. Some of those challenges have led to changes within the organization’s policies (namely the adoption of NIL policies), but there are still sticking points to the NCAA bylaws that cause havoc for student athletes.

A federal judge in Tennessee granted Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia an injunction that allowed him to pursue an extra year of collegiate eligibility in December 2024. Pavia had sued the NCAA, per ESPN’s Dan Murphy, claiming that by counting his time in junior college towards his overall eligibility the organization was unfairly limiting his ability to make money from his name, image, and likeness.

The judge ruled that Pavia's year spent playing at New Mexico Military Institute should not count against his eligibility.

Seeing similarities in his situation, former North Carolina first baseman Alberto Osuna filed suit against the NCAA last month. Osuna claimed that the year he spent at Walters State Community College should not count against his eligibility. After that year, Osuna transferred to UNC, where he played the last three seasons.

Osuna hit .259/.359/.519 with 45 home runs during his three years in Chapel Hill.

The NCAA typically allows players five years to play four seasons. Due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, most players were given an extra year on top of those limits.

Believing his eligibility had run out to continue playing Division I baseball, Osuna transferred to Tampa (a Division II program). He transferred again, to Tennessee, once realizing he could potentially fight for an extra year of eligibility.

Osuna’s request was denied on Monday, per an AP report. It’s unclear what Osuna’s next steps (if any) may be.

Tennessee, the defending National Champions, have started the season 11-0 even without Osuna’s bat in the lineup. Four of the five major polls — the USA Today Coaches, the National College Baseball Writers Association, Baseball America, and Perfect Game — all rank the Volunteers No. 1 in new rankings this week. Only D1baseball.com didn’t, they have the Vols second behind LSU.

One more Vols note, courtesy of Mike Wilson at the Knoxville News Sentinel. The team has already hit seven grand slams this season — after hitting three on Tuesday in a 22-9 win over Radford. Arizona State holds the record with 14 in 2003. ASU set their record in 68 games.

George Mason sets new runs record

The George Mason Patriots hosted the Holy Cross Crusaders on Tuesday, looking to extend a five-game winning streak. The Patriots would set NCAA history in the process. I’ll leave it to SB Nation’s Mark Schofield to explain:

Wow. That’s a lot to unpack. 23 runs without hitting a single home run in the inning (or a triple, for that matter) is impressive.

Butler saw four plate appearances in the inning — making the first out, getting hit by a pitch in each of the next two trips to the plate, before grounding out to end things.

Penn State set the previous record of 21 runs in 1983, which was matched by Wichita State in 1984 and Valparaiso in 2010.

Elsewhere, around college baseball (yeah, we’ve got a theme today) …

• Stanford freshman first baseman Rintaro Sasaki is off to an excellent start, but has yet to connect on his first home run. Sasaki is batting .360/.448/.420 with 14 RBI in 50 at bats for the 10-2 Cardinals.

• After starting the season a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the country, Texas A&M has struggled to a 6-4 start. The Aggies went 1-3 last week and dropped to 14th in the USA Today Coaches poll.

• West Virginia jumped to 24th in the rankings, climbing 13 places (the biggest rise of any Top 25 teams).

• Oregon crushed its school record for runs on Saturday in a 35-1 win over Columbia.