fielding error that goes out of play. Where do baserunners end up?

[TheBigD5er]

Have a weird situation that happened to my team recently in a high school game.

my team is hitting. down two runs. top 6. runner on first, one out. hit and run is on. runner gets a great jump and has rounded second by the time the batted ball clears the infield headed towards third.

Left fielder commits a fielding error and the ball goes rolls past him and goes through a hole in the base of the fence, becoming a dead ball. At the time, the runner from first is halfway home, the hitter is in between first and second.

The umpire leaves the hitter at second, and brings the runner from first who almost scored, back to third base. He explained that situation is treated as a ground rule double, and each runner gets two bases. My argument was it wasn't a ground rule double. It was a single, The fielder made an attempt on the ball, committed an error, and the ball went out of play under the fence, not over. Based on when the ball was declared dead, each runner should receive two bases. (baserunner scores, hitter at third). The field umpire deferred to the home plate for the ruling. 

What is the correct ruling here? 

[JonnyCat]

The umpire was correct. A batted ball that goes out of play in that situation is a 2 base award (commonly referred as a ground rule double). Runner(s) and batter are awarded 2 bases from where they were at time of pitch. (TOP)

Same in all rulesets.

[jimurrayalterego]

"Based on when the ball was declared dead, each runner should receive two bases. (baserunner scores, hitter at third)." 

This would never be the case. It would be time of pitch for your sit. If the fielder had complete possession and dropped the ball and it was kicked/deflected out of play it would be time of deflection or drop. 

[beerguy55]

On 5/15/2026 at 1:04 PM, TheBigD5er said:

My argument was it wasn't a ground rule double. It was a single, The fielder made an attempt on the ball, committed an error, and the ball went out of play under the fence, not over. Based on when the ball was declared dead, each runner should receive two bases.

First - "ground rule double" is a misnomer.  It's a two-base award for a fair batted ball that goes out of play in a certain set of situations...basically, anything but going over the fence in flight.

Second, nobody cares if you think it was a single or a triple...that's a scorekeeping consideration and has no bearing on the play.

Third, it does not matter if the ball went over, under or through the fence.  The same rule applies for batted balls in how the runners are awarded their bases.

It doesn't matter if the fielder made an error - it's still a batted ball...and a batted ball that goes out of play has the runners awarded based on time of pitch (ie. when the pitcher starts his motion).   The fielder error would only matter if A) he picked it up and threw it out of play or B) he kicked/deflected the ball out of play where the impetus of the ball's motion was not the bat (ie. the batted ball was (almost) stopped when knocked out of play) - so, even if this scenario, if the ball had touched the fielder's glove before rolling all the way under the fence it's still a "batted ball".

On a throw/deflection, the runners are awarded two bases at the time the ball last touched the fielder...NOT when it goes out of play.

So, yes, if your batter has not yet reached first, and the outfield throws the ball wildly, and your batter manages to not only pass first, but also second base, by the time the ball goes out of play, he still only gets second base.  Too bad so sad.

 

Measuring runner awards from when the ball goes out of play is very rare - basically, it would be in a situation where the fielder carried the ball out of play.  Otherwise, it's measured from when the ball was hit, pitched, thrown, kicked.

[Velho]

25 minutes ago, beerguy55 said:

On a throw/deflection, the runners are awarded two bases at the time the ball last touched the fielder...NOT when it goes out of play.

Small clarification: two bases from when the fielder threw the ball not when the last fielder touched it (unless judged that the receiving fielder provided further impetus as described above, or it was the first play from the infield)

[beerguy55]

33 minutes ago, Velho said:

Small clarification: two bases from when the fielder threw the ball not when the last fielder touched it (unless judged that the receiving fielder provided further impetus as described above, or it was the first play from the infield)

Problem is I didn't say when "the last fielder touched it".

[Velho]

12 minutes ago, beerguy55 said:

Problem is I didn't say when "the last fielder touched it".

You said "ball last touched the fielder", which is ambiguous. A reader may well interpret that to include when it deflected off a receiving fielder.

Didn't want a reader to believe you were saying that a deflection off a first basemen's glove would be used to decide the two base award.

The "clarification" (as opposed to a "correction") was to ensure readers (lurkers) understood because, while I knew what you meant, it's likely many would not.