Abandonment Issues During a Home Run

Although Texas Tech batter Sam Hunt batted a ball over the outfield wall, in flight and in fair territory, during a college game against Kansas, he nonetheless was declared out while running the bases. Was abandonment the proper ruling here and why is that?

The Play: Simply put, Hunt hit a deep fly ball to center field that left the ballpark for an apparent home run. Kansas center fielder Sergio Rivera, however, leapt in an effort to catch the ball (failed to catch the ball), and in turn Hunt mistakenly thought Rivera had caught the fly ball for an out, leaving the base path and jogging toward his team's third-base dugout before realizing his error at some point around shallow shortstop, attempting to run back to touch second base.

The Call: If our 2B Umpire had incorrectly ruled Hunt out for the catch (that didn't exist), we would have a situation in which we could correct harm caused by an incorrect call. That's not what happened though. 

The 2B Umpire properly ruled and signaled a home run well before Hunt began to peel off without making an effort to run the bases, meaning our 3B Umpire came in and called Hunt out for abandonment.

The Rule: NCAA rules largely agree with OBR (and NFHS) here that a runner is out for abandonment, defined as, "The act of any runner who leaves the base path, after reaching first base, heading for their dugout or defensive position believing there is no further play" (NCAA 2-1). OBR 5.09(b)(2) elucidates the abandonment out: "After touching first base, they leave the base path, obviously abandoning their effort to touch the next base." NCAA 8-5-c is similar in declaring the runner out.

High school, for what its worth, uses baseline instead of base path but for a dead ball base award (HR) situation like this, it hardly makes a realistic difference: "After at least touching first base, leaves the baseline, obviously abandoning their effort to touch the next base" (NFHS 8-4-2p).

Conclusion: This is abandonment and properly officiated. When the runner leaves the base path under the auspices of the rules above, said runner is immediately out. There is no appeal play, this is an umpire-initiated call. As such, a runner can not be "undeclared" out simply by returning after-the-fact to run the bases for the runner, again, is retired immediately upon the umpire ruling abandonment, which, by virtue of Hunt's actions, appears to have been what occurred.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Batter abandons home run journey during college game (CCS)