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I think the rule WAS misapplied here. Although PU claimed that the runner intentionally interfered, all he seemed to do was to go back into the base in fair territory. That's normal and correct baserunning, and not intentional interference with a thrown ball.
For intentional interference with a thrown ball, the runner has to actively do something to touch the ball, such as jumping in the way of it or hitting it with a limb. That's different from diving back to the base and having the ball hit you. And the OP doesn't even say that the ball hit the runner. No way this is INT.
If my PU makes this call, I'm going to ask him what he saw. It's possible he saw something that I didn't see; but if it was merely the runner diving back into the base, I'm going to suggest that he change the call based on the reasoning I just gave. After I make this suggestion, he's going to live or die with his choice.
But I will not stand back and let this go, especially since it happened right in front of me (and is at least nominally my call). I think that's a failure of the crew, as a previous poster said.
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Cheers,
mb
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