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I don't know if there's a right or wrong answer because alert umpiring is supposed to avoid the situation. Still, $hit happens, and times can arise when you need to make a decision that you feel is fair for the situation. I doubt if any of us consider ourselves perfect.
With the ball being hit fair by an improper batter, I don't think I'd have brought the error at that time to anyone's attention. It's the responsibility of the defense to bring that to the attention of the umpire's, and the umpire's should not "autocorrect" the problem because they see it. IMO, the ball being hit fair would be the point of not considering to "undo" the error previously made.
If the defense appealed at the proper time, I would uphold the BOOT as you did.
However, if the error was noticed before the improper batter hit the ball fair, I'd have likely put the runner from 1B back to the plate with his 3-0 count and continued the game from that point.
BTW, I want to compliment you on your candor to bring a situation like this to the forum.
It's difficult to admit error, but situations like this help us learn..........
Freix
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