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Originally Posted by Hoosier_Dave
1. Batter squares to bunt. Pitch is low and really inside and hits batter. Batter tries to avoid getting hit and in the process doesn't pull the bunt back. I called a strike because the play takes precedence. Coach agreed with call. What is the status of ball? I called dead ball which would be the case if batted ball hits batter. Can't find the rule to support this.
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Whose rules? As Cecil said, NCAA requires the bat to be withdrawn. So does AFA (or at least they did in 2004 - the latest AFA book I have). But, even if I was calling this with AFA rules, I would not have ruled that a bunt attempt. Clearly, the batter was attempting to avoid the pitch, not bunt the ball. Maybe you are looking for something too literal in "pulling the bat back" ... did the bat really remain stationary over the plate while the batter was moving to avoid? That'd be some body control!
Anytime the batter is hit with a pitch, it is a dead ball. What happens after the ball is dead depends, but this certainly sounds like a HBP with an award of 1B.
Mike covered the "hey batter..." stuff.