Bunt question

[timharris]

Hello,

I was watching a summer high school baseball league here in Virginia in which I saw a strange thing happen. Situation #1 The batter squares too bunt on the squeeze play and misses the ball but he steps on the plate and the umpire calls deadball and sends the runner back too third. This is where it gets hairy the coach comes out and argues that he can step on the plate as long as he does not make contact with the ball at the same time. This is totally legal the coach states, the umpire stuck with his call and the coach heads back too the dugout. I was sitting behind his dugout and he was actually telling his players to step on the plate too confuse the catcher on the squeeze play. I did umpire back in the day and I do know that if you make contact with the plate while hitting the ball you are out and its a deadball.

What if you have a team that steps on the plate on purpose without making contact on these squeeze bunt plays. What is the ruling on this?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.