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O.P. -
BR was obstructed AFTER obtaining 1st base. The minimum penalty is BR placed one base beyond, putting him at 2nd. R2 goes to 3rd.
Punish the offender - the defense. By calling BR out, where's the penalty?
On a philosophical note: Dave Yeast, former NCAA Coordinator, told an NCAA meeting in '04 to not have an "opinion" of how far you will protect the obstructed runner. Let the play give you the information and base your judgement on the results of the play. His contention was/is that umpires have snap opinions as to how far the runner should advance before the play ends.
Example:
The fastest batter-runner in the state hits a shot to right field, is obstructed after touching first, and is tagged out at 3rd by a whisker. Call?
Majority of umpires respond with: "Out. He shouldn't have gone past 2nd."
What if, on this play the fastest batter-runner is safe at 3rd. Would you call time, and say to the coach - "Coach, your runner is safe at third, but in my opinion he shouldn't have gone past second, so I'm going to put him back at 2nd base." I would hope no one ever says such a thing.
In the former example, the umpire created an opinion and determined what the result of the "should" be without waiting for the result of the play.
Example:
If the slowest batter in the state hits the same shot to right field, is again obstructed after 1st base, and is tagged out halfway between 2nd and 3rd.
Call?
I have an out. The obstruction (an ordinary bump) did not cause such a hinderance as to be out by 40 feet.
Point is to let the play happen, and then render a decision. We're told, for timing's sake, to wait and take our time, but with instances of obstruction, we are far to quick to judge.
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