Expert: Brian Flaspohler - 8/4/2009

Question
I am curious about a situation that occurred in a recent game I was in.  The bases were loaded with nobody out.  The batter hit the ball on the ground to the third baseman who scooped it up and stepped on third to get the runner out running from second.  The runner that was originally on third ran halfway to home, and then for some reason turned around and ran back to third.  Our third baseman managed to tag him before he got back to third.  My question is would this runner have been out if the following situations occurred instead of tagging the runner off the bag:

1) The third baseman throws it home (basically, is the force at home eliminated because the previous runner is already out).

2) The runner makes it back to third and the third baseman tags him as he is standing on the bag.

3)  The runner makes it back to third but the third baseman doesn't tag him or throw it home.

Answer
Casey,

As soon as the third baseman forced the runner from the second, the force is removed so

1) No force at home - the runner must be tagged.
2 & 3) If the runner makes it back to third safely, then he is safe no matter if he is tagged while on the bag or not tagged at all.

Hope this helps!

Brian