Runner Ejected Over Collision
 

I wasn't there so I'm going off of reports.

Play: Groundball to short. Throw pulls F3 off the bag. Collision with the runner. Runner ejected.

What are you as an umpire looking for in a play like this? Is the onus on the runner to avoid the trainwreck? What would you have to see to eject the runner?

Thanks

It all depends upon what the runner does.
What did the Runner do?
Did the runner lower his shoulders and drive the fielder into right field - ala taking out the defensive end with a trap block?
Did the runner make a hook slide into the fielders knees to injure him?
Did the runner make some other action that could be interpreted as a malicious act with an intent to potentially injure the player?

These are questions that need to be asked.

A catch and a foot on the base.

NO

Malicious contact.

And a tag if the throw pulls the fielder off -- and then I'm watching for MC (or "unsporting behavior") on both sides.

I agree with the rest of rbmartin's answers

A more precise answer...thanks.

Thanks. It was a case of F3 being pulled into the basepath from what I'm told.

Malicious Contact = a dangerous act with intent to injure the opponent.

Absent that, it sounds like OBS on F3 (if he [FED] doesn't have the ball, or [OBR & NCAA] is not about to receive the throw), or a simple trainwreck with a probable out.

To get a better answer, we need better information on the situation. Absent that, this is a 'you had to be there' situation.

My guess: F3 is pulled into the BR's path, the BR put his arms up in front of his chest to cushion the blow, and the umpire assumed that the BR crashed into F3 maliciously.

I've seen runners with little time to react to an impending wreck do something that looks malicious, when in reality it was simply a defensive move. And it really looks bad when the runner weighs almost twice as much as the fielder. Everybody will be screaming for an ejection because the fielder went flying about ten feet.

That sounds about what probably happened. F3 always is going to take a big hit because he is standing still and watching the ball and doesn't see the runner. That's where the umpire would have to see something malicious though to eject the BR - simply because its a collision even a very hard collision doesn't make for an ejection.

thanks
David

They can only be ejected for Malicious Contact, not simply violent contact. If it appears the runner (or fielder) went out of their way to cause contact in a malicious way, then that is what I would look for. Players might contact each other while trying to avoid contact all together. For example a bad throw that takes a fielder in the path. This is one reason you do not ball watch and watch the runner and how they are running to the next base.

Peace

I'm also looking to see if the B/R intentionally interferes with F3 or the throw.

I am also looking for the runner trying to touch the base and not intentionally collide with the fielder. If there is any intent to collide at all, the runner is ejected, no questions asked. This applies in all levels of baseball and softball.