Federal judge rules against Navy baseball player seeking extra year of eligibility

A federal judge on Thursday ruled against a midshipman who sued the NCAA to play an additional season for the Navy baseball team, which he argued was critical to his professional development as a future officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin held that Brock Murtha was unlikely to prevail in court. She refused to order the NCAA to grant him a waiver and declare him immediately eligible to play in the 2025-26 season.

He attended the hearing in the Edward A. Garmatz U.S. Courthouse in Baltimore wearing his dress blues.

“Mr. Murtha, I regret that you are in this status,” Rubin said. “I know that it causes you great heartbreak.”

In a statement, Murtha said he was “deeply disappointed,” noting that he does not have a lot of time left before he becomes an officer.

“What hurts most is that we are here because of procedural issues and paperwork mistakes that I did not create, and yet I am the one losing an irreplaceable opportunity to play with my teammates and continue developing as a leader before I join the Marine Corps,” Murtha said.

He vowed to “continue to push forward.”

Murtha, 23, of West Sayville, New York, filed the case Feb. 20 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. His complaint alleged the following:

In 2020, Murtha graduated from Sayville High School and started his college athletic career at the University of Notre Dame.

But his playing time in the 2020-21 season was limited because the NCAA allowed upperclassmen to retain eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was then redshirted during the 2021-22 season.

Murtha transferred to the Naval Academy in 2022. The deciding factor for him was the assurance from the military school that he could be a student-athlete for four years.

He played for the baseball team during the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Baseball Reference lists Murtha’s positions as second baseman, third baseman and relief pitcher. He appeared in 48 games last season and posted a .272 batting average and .810 OPS.

The Naval Academy in 2025 submitted a waiver on behalf of Murtha so he could compete during the upcoming season, and the NCAA denied the request.

But the Naval Academy supplied the NCAA with incorrect information and never let Murtha know about the 30-day window to appeal the decision.

Murtha later met with staff members at the Naval Academy who submitted corrected information to the NCAA. It again denied the waiver.

In court documents, Murtha wrote that he’s set to be commissioned in May as an officer. He said he will immediately become responsible for the lives of 30-50 enlisted Marines.

Murtha said playing in his senior season was his last chance to “practice the small-unit leadership that mimics a Marine Platoon.”

“The harm that I am facing is not the loss of ‘fun’ or ‘games,’” Murtha said. “It is the loss of critical leadership reps that are essential to my ability to lead Marines in high-consequence environments.”

Christine Brown, one of Murtha’s attorneys, argued that the Naval Academy acknowledged it made mistakes but the NCAA refused to consider new evidence.

But Kate Gehl, an attorney for the NCAA, contended that, just because his head coach at Notre Dame gave him limited playing time, it did not entitle Murtha to play another season.

The NCAA, she said, considered the corrected information but that did not change the outcome.

“He just did not qualify,” Gehl said.

In a statement, Brown described the ruling as “a temporary setback and not the end of Brock’s fight.”

Said Brown: “We continue to believe there are strong, plausible causes of action here, and we intend to pursue all appropriate relief to hold the NCAA accountable for the damage its broken system has done to Brock’s eligibility and his development as a future Marine officer.”

This article has been updated.