And another weird one

[His High Holiness]

All;

The gremlins were out last night in my 13 inning 4:05 marathon. I felt like a third world umpire.

NCAA rules. Bottom of 11th inning, R2, R3, 1 out. The defense decides to intentionally walk the batter. After a 3-0 count, the batter takes a big cut at ball four which is 2 feet outside. (The hope here is to make the pitcher throw two extra pitches and perhaps the ball will get away from the catcher allowing the winning run to score.

I ruled that he did not go. A swing has to be an INTENTIONAL act to hit the ball. Since he did not intend to hit the ball, he was just getting exercise. The OFFENSE weakly asked me to check with my partner. No can do! Only the defense can make that request. The batter went to first without further ado.

Peter