[RPatrino]

First, the ball can't be called foul because F1 touched it in fair territory.

Here's my problem with this. Don't you have to ignore the fact that the pitcher had to run maybe 10 - 15 feet to take his second shot at securing possession of the ball in order to have interference here? Or does the pitcher have special protection in this case?

How about this sitch? R1, hard grounder up the middle. F6 takes it off the chest, the ball caroms toward first, and travels about 10 feet toward 1b, with F6 in hot pursuit. At this point R1 and F6 collide in the baseline, a) with the ball still about 3 ft from F6, or b) just as F6 is trying to grab the ball on the ground.

Is this a different scenario?