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Tuesday, June 20, 2023

TCU Runner Pushed Off Base - But Still Out on Replay?

During the TCU vs Oral Roberts elimination game in the NCAA Men's College World Series, a TCU runner standing on third base was forced off and tagged by a fielder who had just tagged out another runner. Originally ruled safe by the 3B Umpire, the call was overturned after an Oral Roberts challenge to an out, despite the runner being pushed off the base. Why?

Although NCAA Rule 8-5-i's Note 2 states, "If in the judgement of an umpire, a runner is pushed or forced off a base by a fielder, intentionally or unintentionally, at which the runner would otherwise have been called safe, the umpire has the authority and discretion under the circumstances to return the runner to the base they were forced off following the conclusion of the play," when NCAA added that rule for the 2023 baseball season (and let's be honest, this interpretation is how every umpire officiated a push-off play across all levels even before 8-5-i-Note 2 was adopted), there was no accompanying change to college's Replay Review section.

Thus, this umpire "authority and discretion" call of a push or force-off remains a non-reviewable judgment call. Accordingly, because the umpire's on-field ruling was that the runner was safe at third base due to the runner having remained on third base and thus was never tagged while off his base, Replay Review did what replay does and reversed the call because technically the runner was tagged while off his base—he was just forced off the base and that's the reason for the tag.

But because the judgment call of push/force-off isn't reviewable, the out call prevailed...because the umpire ruled the runner safe at third due to the runner's remaining on the base, the umpire never thus made a ruling that the runner was pushed or forced off the base. Replay determined the runner was indeed tagged off the base, but because the judgment part of the rule (the forced off part) isn't reviewable...you get the idea.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: TCU runner called out on replay OT, despite being pushed off the base by a fielder

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