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The only variable that's not in your post that I think should contribute to your decision is the player's age.
If he has enough time once the pitch is thrown to go get a Gatorade, come back and take it in the head I'd call a dead ball and send him back to the box. As a matter of fact, I've had to call that once so far this spring. The only difference was he took it in the shoulder.
If he puts his head in the strike zone, I think its HTBT. Unless I was certain he failed to attempt to get out of the way, I'd give him the base. Poor reflexes shouldn't be penalized.
With all that said, either way you go its a tough call. This past weekend during a tournament (15u division), we had four hit batsmen in one game. Fastballs and breaking balls. Nothing malicious or intentional and we had already discussed during our pregame that if the PU wasn't sure about B1's actions, we'd go to BU. With each hit batsmen the defensive coach barked but each time they got a base without a PU/BU conference.
You've got to go with what they give you, either way someone won't be happy.
IG3
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