Balk or Ball

[tankmjg24]

Watching an NAIA college game and F1 gets a cleat stuck on the mound and about falls over. He delivers the pitch which goes straight down to the ground and starts to roll towards home. R1 and R2 take off running and F2 gets up and runs forward and picks the ball up about 10ft in front of home. Should this not have been a balk or am I missing something?

[VAUmp]

BALK

[johnnyg08]

As you describe…balk.  

 

The pitch has to cross a foul line to be called a ball.  

[noumpere]

It was of course a balk but if R1 and R2 were running and reached the next base, then maybe it was ruled a balk but was just so lokey that some didn't notice.  You probably don't need to make a big deal about this at the college level.  Just give the new count (same oas theold count) before the next pitch so everyone knows.