Tennessee lost its SEC Tournament game against Alabama after a 9th inning force play slide rule call turned a walk-off win into an inning-ending double play. Was it correct, by rule? Article:
NCAA Baseball, similar to NFHS for high school, has a fairly strict force play slide rule (FPSR) that requires a runner, on a force play, to slide in a direct line between the two bases (not to be confused with the base path, which is a separate rule for a separate play entirely).
NCAA 8-4 describes FPSR as a “safety and an interference rule” and states that “whether the defense could have completed the double play has no bearing on the applicability of this rule.” The rulebook also includes a diagram in which the fielder is protected from contact to the right and to the left of the base.
Accordingly, because the runner made contact with the fielder in this protected area, the proper call is a force play slide violation and, effectively, an inning-ending double play with no run being allowed to score.
Although college and high school have fairly strict FPSR rules, professional baseball (MLB, MiLB, etc.) forgo the force play slide rule in favor of the less stringent bona fide slide rule.
Under the Official Baseball Rules (pro)’s bona fide slide rule 6.01(j), a runner simply must satisfy four criteria (begins slide before reaching base, able and attempts to reach base with hand or foot, able and attempts to remain on base, slides within reach of base without changing pathway to initiate contact with fielder) in order for the slide to be considered bona fide. There is no “protected area” for the fielder, and contact is permissable as long as the slide is bona fide.
However, OBR’s retired runner’s interference rule 6.01(a)(5) states that, “Any batter or runner who has just been put out, or any runner who has just scored, hinders or impedes any following play being made on a runner. Such runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate.”
The question of whether 6.01(a)(5) interference occurred or not is a judgment call, open to more flexibility on the umpire’s part and certainly less black-and-white than NCAA’s FPSR. If, in pro ball, 6.01(a)(5) were to be deemed applicable and interference called, the outcome would be the same as the NCAA’s FPSR call: dead ball, both the baserunner and batter-runner declared out, and the inning ended on the double play.
