Force play slide + a balk

[Bob Lyle]

This was posted on another site but did not get a conclusive result. Do we want to take a stab at it here?

Situation: NCAA rules

R1, 2 outs,

Runner is going and a balk is called. Pitch is delivered. Sharp grounder to short who flips to second and the runner is called safe but he completely and illegally takes out the second baseman. It was a gross violation of the force play slide rule and the umpires correctly called it.

20 minutes later after the ambulance carted the second baseman off of the field, what should the umpires do besides ejecting R1 which they did?

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by Bob Lyle
This was posted on another site but did not get a conclusive result. Do we want to take a stab at it here?

Situation: NCAA rules

R1, 2 outs,

Runner is going and a balk is called. Pitch is delivered. Sharp grounder to short who flips to second and the runner is called safe but he completely and illegally takes out the second baseman. It was a gross violation of the force play slide rule and the umpires correctly called it.

20 minutes later after the ambulance carted the second baseman off of the field, what should the umpires do besides ejecting R1 which they did?

In a FPSR violation, both R1 and BR are out. Since the conditions aren't met to ignore the balk, enforce it. Put R1's replacement on second and send the batter back to the plate.

[RPatrino]

Jenkins nailed it.

BP

[Bob Lyle]

Originally posted by bob jenkins


In a FPSR violation, both R1 and BR are out. Since the conditions aren't met to ignore the balk, enforce it. Put R1's replacement on second and send the batter back to the plate.

That's what the umpires ruled but the game was protested and the protest committee overruled the umpires. It was also submitted to the NCAA but I don't know what their ruling was.

I don't know the protest committees thought process either. I think that part of it had to do with the fact that R1 had been called safe at second. The violation was considered along the same lines as an overslide; in other words, R1 achieved second safely and then was called out on the FSPR. I don't know how they finessed the BR at first. Perhaps since there were already two outs, they ignored the BR. More likely, the brutality of the hit (R1 knocked out the second basemant with a helmet to the head), clouded the protest committee's judgment.

[Edited by Bob Lyle on Oct 18th, 2005 at 01:48 PM]

[JJ]

I agree with Bob Jenkins. I also have a question - where did this occur (what teams were playing?) and who comprised the protest committee?

JJ

[Bob Lyle]

This was a summer wood bat league. I have no idea who the members of the protest committee were, probably league officers.

[DG]

Originally posted by bob jenkins

In a FPSR violation, both R1 and BR are out. Since the conditions aren't met to ignore the balk, enforce it. Put R1's replacement on second and send the batter back to the plate.

I'm curious. I assume by "gross violation" he meant "maliciouis contact" although he did not say so. Otherwise, why eject him?