Abandonment???

[David M]

Game last night I was BU. R2 so I am in C. BR hits grounder to short. Throw from short is low and not dug out by the first baseman. I call the runner safe. The runner apparently thought he was out and was walking back to the dugout where he was tagged (on the dugout side of the 1st base coaching box below the bag). I called him out. I got a mild argument for the O coach but nothing bad.

After the game I looked up abandonment in JR (which I don't have with me now) which says something to the effect that this would be abandonment if the BR has no intent of returning to the base. He had no intent until the first baseman ran over to tag him.

Would this be abandonment? If not how much space and time would you give a BR to return to first?

Thanks