ball hits on deck equipment

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by DG

Both teams are prohibited from leaving equipment laying on the field.

See FED CB 1.3.7, Situations A and B. Also see page 184 of the 2004 edition of J/R, which makes no distinction between offense or defense - "However, if a ball strikes a piece of equipment that is on LBT (usually the lip or top step of a dugout), and such ball would have entered DBT absent the contact with such equipment, then the ball is considered to have entered DBT."

JEA says basically the same thing:

Umpires should monitor the area in front of the dugouts and insure that gloves and equipment are not left lying on the playing field. Equipment lying on the "lip" of the dugout is legal but a thrown ball that strikes it is considered "in the dugout".