UT Longhorn Pitcher

[clok_strix_3]

I thought this was quite interesting to see last weekend when the UT Longhorns hosted the Kansas St. Wildcats in Austin, Texas.

B1 batted a ball to the 2nd baseman, and in doing this, the pitcher takes off running towards first base between first base and the now batter-runner. The crazy thing was that the pitcher had no obligation to run to 1st base since the 1st baseman was ready to receive the throw and the catcher was covering behind 1st. Anyway, the pitcher times his run and nearly runs into the runner but still allowing the batter-runner to pass him and try to beat out the throw. This PLAY keeps happening throughout the game and even the BB announcers were confused as to why such an action by the pitcher.

May question is, is this type of action by the pitcher allowed? I know it would be OBSTRUCTION if the pitcher ran into the runner. But I simply think this kind of action is confusing.........but now, is it a FAIR way to play?