thrown ball hits player outside dugout

[jms1425]

During a play, a thrown ball misses its target and is bounding towards a dugout. The ball hits an offensive player who is NOT the on-deck batter (i.e., he is out of the dugout, but should not be) and redirects into the dugout. Based on the player's location and direction of the ball, the ball would not have gone into the dugout had it not hit the player.

How do you place runners?

I'm mostly interested in NCAA rules, but would like to know other codes for this situation, too.

[Tborze]

23 hours ago, jms1425 said:

During a play, a thrown ball misses its target and is bounding towards a dugout. The ball hits an offensive player who is NOT the on-deck batter (i.e., he is out of the dugout, but should not be) and redirects into the dugout. Based on the player's location and direction of the ball, the ball would not have gone into the dugout had it not hit the player.

How do you place runners?

I'm mostly interested in NCAA rules, but would like to know other codes for this situation, too.

Penalize offender.  Runners go back to TOI base if moving after the INT. If a play was eminent you can get an out. ?  Team warning!

[Senor Azul]

From the 2016 BRD (section 326, p. 216):

Play 184-326:  R1, R2, bottom of the 8^th, B1 singles to centerfield, F8’s throw home to get R2 gets by the catcher and is rolling toward the home-team dugout. That team, excited about the run, starts to cheer and rush from the dugout toward home plate to celebrate. A bench player accidentally deflects the ball, and it rolls into the dugout. At the time it entered the dugout, R2 had scored and R1 was advancing home, with the batter-runner heading toward third. Ruling:  This action is “unintentional interference,” and since R2 had already touched home plate at the time the ball entered dead-ball territory, his run scores. The umpire calls “Time,” declares out R1, and returns the batter to the last base he had attained before the ball entered dead-ball territory.

[BLWizzRanger]

Can I add something to this?  I know buckets are not allowed outside of the dugouts, but, they still grow legs and find their way out there.  So if an overthrown ball hits a bucket outside of the offensive team's dugout, would you call OOP and reward the offensive team the extra bases? 

Sorry if this has been asked before. For some reason this has stayed on my mind...

[Tborze]

3 hours ago, BLWizzRanger said:

Can I add something to this?  I know buckets are not allowed outside of the dugouts, but, they still grow legs and find their way out there.  So if an overthrown ball hits a bucket outside of the offensive team's dugout, would you call OOP and reward the offensive team the extra bases? 

Sorry if this has been asked before. For some reason this has stayed on my mind...

Why would you allow the rules violators to benefit at all from their indiscretions?

[Vegas_Ump]

I do Little League, and I am constantly couseling coaches and players about staying in the dugout during live play.  I have had to rule on this very few times in my career, but here's what I did.

Remember:  Little League!

If the ball hits a player or coach from the defensive team who shouldn't be there, it's a dead ball and I'll award bases.  

If the ball hits a player or coach from the offensive team who shouldn't be there, you have the right to rule interference and call a runner out.  But you have to be careful!  If no advantage occurs, you can let it go.  (Don't go looking for boogers!)  But the manager is going to get an earful!

The best approach is to detail this discipline at the plate conference.  

The coachers are authorized to be on the field, so unless a ball hops into the coacher's pocket, it's play on.  And sometimes other players are allowed (like the bat retriever) but they have to be careful if the play is still live.

NOTE:  This year, we had COVID protocols that spread the players out in the grandstands except for the next three batters up (who could be in the dugout).  This created a lot of traffic on the field during dead time, but the leagues really did a good job working this out.  Anyway, we did have some close calls, but the opportunity to use common sense also applies!

Again!  I'm in Little League, so the players are learning a lot and so are the adults!

Mike

Las Vegas