In yesterday's game, our R3 was off the bag in foul territory, batter hit a ball right where our R3 was standing in foul territory. R3 tried to run back to the base but right in the path of 3rd baseman, preventing 3rd baseman from making a play for the ball. Originally a no-call but the other coach challenged it. There were some disagreement with the umpires as to whether R3 made contact with the 3rd baseman, but they eventually ruled offensive interference. I'm downloading the video right now and can share later.
My question is: since runner was in foul territory the whole time and was taking a direct path back to the bag, is it still offensive interference even if there was contact with 3rd baseman? What should have the runner done differently? Make sure he takes a more circuitous route to the bag, maybe even going inside fair territory? He wasn't even looking to see where the 3rd baseman was, and didn't know what route he was taking to the ball. Is this one of those plays where R3 did everything right and it would still have been offensive interference?
