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In the Division 3 matchup between Berry College and Hendrix College on Sunday, one of the craziest plays I have every seen happened with a pitcher decking an incoming runner on a passed ball. You can check out the full video below.
6 comments
watch this collision starting at :37 seconds in and tell me Baseball’s not football!
watch this collision starting at 37 seconds in and tell me that Baseball is not Football!
That was an unfortunate play
Brian Foley
Editor of College Baseball Daily
The president of our JuCo coaches association posed an interesting question.
The video does not indicate the runner ever actually touched home plate.
The plate umpire suspended the offending pitcher and, almost certainly, called obstruction. Since the catcher had not thrown the ball, the obstruction call should have killed the play (made it a dead ball).
However, I’m not aware of anything in the rules which allows the runner to be credited with the base, unless he actually takes possession (steps on the bag or, in this case, plate). This runner apparently didn’t.
It seems to me that, if the defense had appealed before the next pitch had been thrown, they might have had an argument. (An analogy is a batter who is awarded first base but, instead, goes to the dugout. A few years ago, at least, he would be called out for having abandoned the field.) However, the dead ball might play into this as well.
Is there, by any chance, a college or pro umpire out there who would care to enlighten us?
Didn’t Robin Ventura hit a home run in a postseason game and never touched all the bases and wasn’t called out?
Brian Foley
Sent from my iPad
Isn’t that poor umpiring? I thought we were discussing the rule — not that one umpire’s failure in MLB years ago some how relates to this issue.
The question is still on the table: What do the rules say happens when a runner is awarded a base — but does not take it?
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