johnny,

The point I was trying to make (not very well) was that if the bat hits the ball, even if the umpire judges no intent, the BR is out and the ball is dead.

If the ball hits the bat, then the runner is not liable to be called out - unless the umpire judges intent; I can't imagine myself judging intent in the case where the ball hits the bat, but I suppose it's possible.

I apologize for creating confusion.

JM

I've had it once. Batter bunted up the first base line and as he was running by the ball he looked down at the ball and dropped the bat right in front of it. Both my BU and I called him out immediately.

I can't imagine it either, it is a possibility though. I can't recall a time. However, I have had numerous cases of batted ball goes down and back up to hit bat while batter still in the box and with bat still in hand, usually on bunts. The latest was in the first round of HS playoffs this year. This is not in the rule book, but in all of the interp books, foul ball.

NCAA 7-7-e
OBR 6.05(g)
FED 7-2-1-f

Some were just changed this year. Gotta keep up ;-)