[Justme561]

In the dressing room following some games last night was asked a question by a fellow umpire that I believe that I answered correctly BUT it never hurts to ask for other opinions.

Situation: NFHS rules - pitching change during an inning.

While the pitcher is taking his eight warm up pitches 6 or 8 offensive players are outside the dugout swinging bats. They are all further away from the plate than the on-deck circle and they all have on helmets.

My Answer: I told him that I couldn’t think of any rule against doing that. When I got home I looked in the rule book and the case book (that’s the extent of my high school reference library) and couldn’t find anything.