Slow pitch question

[Tru_in_Blu]

Had this in a league finals game earlier this week. I was BU.

Defense chose not to intentionally walk a particular batter, but clearly was giving him nothing to hit.

Now I seem to recall that once the ball hits the ground it is dead (no stealing in this league).

There's some chippiness from both teams during this particular AB, which reaches a count of 3-1. Pitcher, trying to bust filberts, rolls the ball towards HP. Batter, in return, swings at the pitch. PU made the count 3-2.

So that's where I have a question. The pitch was both illegal and dead when it hit the ground 10 feet in front of the pitcher. If the batter managed to hit this ball, would it be an illegally batted ball? Does that result in a strike anyway, or should it have been ball 4.

It turned out that the pitcher's next pitch was about 20' high and well behind the batter for ball 4.

Thanx.