Quote:
Originally posted by Gre144
R2 is on Second. The batter runner hits a grounder to right field. R2 is obstructed by F6 but mistakenly thinks he is out and runs towards the dug out. In the meantime the batter runner scores to home for an inside the park homerun.
How do you handle this situation since the batter runner passed the preceding runner R2. (Do you send R2 to third and the batter-runner back to second since it would be illegal for the batter-runner to score since he passed the preceding runner.)
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Greg, do you lay at night thinking of these situations, or do you umpire in a sanitarium?
Here's how I'd rule and why.......
It's obviously a Type B obstruction since the batter rounded the bases. Still, I declare the runner out for abandonment. My responsibity is to nullify the act of obstruction and not to protect the runner from his own stupidity. While my initial decision on a ball hit past an outfielder (assumed necessary for an inside the park home run) would be to award this runner home, the post obstructive evidence of him leaving the basepath changed that decision to abandonment. He should know what obstructon is no different than he should know how many outs there are or that he is still required to touch the bases---as in this case. The obstruction did not cause him to abandon the bases. His lack of game knowledge did. The only exception would be if the obstruction was judged to have directly caused his missing of a base. In that event, he would be considered to have touched the base that he was obstructed from touching.
If the abandonment out of R2 is the 3rd out, the BR would not score.
Just my opinion,
Freix