Ryan Vilade singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning off Hunter Gaddis, and Steven Matz worked a season-high seven innings to rally the visiting Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.

Cleanup hitter Vilade had two RBI singles in a three-inning span as the Rays scored three unanswered runs to erase a 2-0 deficit. Vilade knocked in Yandy Diaz in the sixth and plated pinch-runner Richie Palacios in the eighth.

Jonathan Aranda hit a leadoff homer in the eighth off Gaddis (0-1) to tie the score, paving the way for Tampa Bay’s fifth consecutive victory. The Rays are 12-1 against American League opponents and have the second-best record in the Junior Circuit.

Matz (4-1) gave up two runs on four hits, only allowing multiple baserunners in the fifth. The left-hander struck out two and walked one in a 95-pitch outing, remaining unbeaten in nine lifetime appearances against Cleveland at 4-0.

Ian Seymour pitched the eighth, and Bryan Baker worked a shaky ninth for his seventh save. Kyle Manzardo singled, and Chase DeLauter doubled with one out before Baker struck out George Valera and Daniel Schneemann.

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the fifth on Schneemann’s two-run homer to left off Matz. It scored David Fry, who reached on a walk after umpire Jacob Metz called strike three. Fry challenged the call, and it was turned into ball four on the replay.

Vilade went 3-for-4, tying his career high in hits, and is batting .344 on the season. The offseason acquisition from the Cincinnati Reds is 11-for-24 (.458) in his last 10 games.

Guardians starter Parker Messick tied his career high with nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings, giving up one run on three hits. The left-hander lowered his ERA to 1.73 — the third best in the AL — and walked a pair.

All six of Messick’s starts have taken place after Cleveland losses. The Guardians are now 5-1 in them, matching Tampa Bay’s record in starts by Matz.

–Field Level Media

The Division I Board of Directors directed the Division I Cabinet to move forward with a major change to NCAA eligibility rules Monday, but president Charlie Baker said he won’t recommend that current seniors and graduates be grandfathered in.

The model in question will allow NCAA athletes to play up to five years of their sport in a five-year window, with the timer starting the academic year after they graduate high school or turn 19, whichever comes first.

“The time is now to reform the period of eligibility rules to provide Division I student-athletes and our schools clear and consistent standards that align with current college athletes’ experiences,” Virginia Tech president and board chairman Tim Sands said in a statement. “The board fully supports student-athletes receiving the unprecedented financial benefits now available to them and emphasized these changes would protect opportunities for high school student-athletes to access the benefits only college sports can provide while delivering predictable outcomes for student-athletes and our schools.”

The Division I Cabinet will meet May 22 and potentially vote on the issue that day.

However, the NCAA’s release makes sure to carve out an exception for players whose eligibility runs out in the current academic year, 2025-26: “new rules are not expected to retroactively apply to student-athletes whose eligibility is or will be completed by the spring of 2026.”

The board of directors was said to have “expressed support” for this key caveat, and in an interview with ESPN, Baker also stood behind it.

“If you’ve used up your eligibility, you’ve used it up,” Baker told ESPN, describing himself as “pretty optimistic” the new rules would pass.

Vanderbilt basketball player Tyler Nickel responded to Baker’s stance with some discontent on social media.

“(S)o we had to play with and against fifth years our entire time in college, but we don’t get one? (A)nd everyone after us gets one too?” Nickel wrote.

Several classes before Nickel’s were awarded a fifth year of eligibility due to the 2020-21 season being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nickel entered college in 2022-23.

To Nickel’s point, it is unclear if an exclusion for the current graduating class would hold up under a legal challenge.

–Field Level Media

A former University of Alabama football player on Monday pleaded guilty to committing fraud in taking millions of dollars from investors by pretending to be NFL players.

Luther Davis, 37, worked in concert with another individual, CJ Evins, 29, in donning disguises, including makeup and wigs, to impersonate NFL players to secure investments and loans from multiple individuals, according to guilty pleas entered into federal court in Atlanta.

The charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Both men face up to seven years in prison, but their plea deals should lower the sentence, which is scheduled to occur in August for Evins and in October for Davis.

A defensive lineman for the Crimson Tide from 2007-2010, including Alabama’s 2009 national championship team, Davis admitted to using fake bank accounts, fraudulent driver’s licenses and misleading emails to convince investors he was acting on behalf of famous athletes, or in some cases, he was the athlete himself.

The Guardian revealed details of the case in mid-April, reporting that the pair had obtained 13 loans in the names of current and former NFL players, including Michael Penix Jr., David Njoku and Xavier McKinney. The fraudulent loans obtained totaled more than $19,845,000, according to court documents.

“Davis and Evins convinced lenders they were NFL players, obtained millions of dollars in fraudulent loans, and used the proceeds of their crimes to purchase real estate and luxury items,” a statement from U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg read. “This scheme highlights that anyone can be a target of identity theft, and my office will vigorously investigate and prosecute swindlers who steal identities to defraud others.”

Davis, who owns a sports management company in Georgia, was part of Nick Saban’s first signing class at Alabama in 2007. The West Monroe, La., native who played in 45 games on the defensive line over four seasons with the Crimson Tide.

–Field Level Media