Playing Rules of the Coastal New England Baseball League

Section One. Rules

(a) Notwithstanding the special rules of play of the CNEBL enumerated herein, "The Official Rule of Major League Baseball" shall apply.

(b) Sportsmanship-

            1. All players must abide by the players agreement in regards to player conduct. Any player ejected from any game for any reason will serve a one game suspension for the first offense. A player ejected from a second game will be suspended for the rest of the season.

            2. Appeals must be made to the league commissioner within 48 hours by email.

 

(c) Uniforms & Safety Equipment -

            1. All players must wear a full baseball uniform, which includes hat, shirt, baseball pants and numbers. Helmets are required to be worn by all batters, runners and base coaches.

2. Catchers are required to wear a catcher's protective helmet. Metal or rubber cleats are permitted.

(d) Line Ups -

             1. Teams may begin a game with 8 players without penalty. Teams may wait no longer than 15 minutes for a 9th player to arrive. Players may play for the other team.  If a part time or full  time player should arrive then the player may switch back to their own team without penalty.

             2.  Player may only accumulate stats from their own game on Sunday.

             3. All players in attendance at a game must be included in the batting line up in a consistent order for the entire game.

            3. Players showing up after the game is started must be added to the bottom of the line up.

            4. If a player leaves during a game, is injured, or is ejected, his spot in the lineup is skipped without penalty.

(e) Player Substitutions -

            1. Free defensive substitution is allowed for all players other than the pitcher. If a pitcher is removed from a game in the middle of the inning as a pitcher, he may not return to pitch during the same game. The pitcher may play any other position in the field after he is removed as pitcher.

            2. If a pitcher hits 3 batters in a game he must be removed from the pitcher position and is not allowed to re-enter at the pitcher position for that game.

            3. Team's will be allowed (2) courtesy runners per game. The opposing team must be notified prior to the start of the game, which players will need a courtesy runner. The player making the last batted out will be the courtesy runner. If the leadoff hitter requires a runner, the last batter in the lineup is used.

(f) Base Running & Fielding -

            1. Infielders may not decoy a tag. If a fielder decoy tags, then he is ejected from the game.

            2. All base runners must avoid any intentional collisions with a fielder. If a collision is intentional or malicious the offending player is out and also ejected.

            3. All base runners must slide or give themselves up if a play is being made on them. All base runners must slide or avoid contact or get out of the base line to avoid interference on a double play situation. Failure to do so, will result in both the runner and batter being called out. All other runners will return to the base occupied at the time of the interference.

            4. A catcher or other player may not block the plate without the ball, illegal blocking of the plate is interference.

(g) Complete Games-

            1. All regular season and playoff games are (9) innings. All regular season Double-headers are (7) innings.

            2. All regular season games are considered official after 4 1/2 innings if the home team is leading.

            3. Playoff games called because of weather or darkness are considered a suspended game and must be completed from the point they were stopped.

            4. Regular season games not completed because of lights going out will be handled the same as games stopped due to weather/rain.

(h) Wood Bats-

            1. Only wood bats are allowed in the CNEBL. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood. No altered, laminated, glued, coated, or composite wood bats will be allowed. A batter is out if he uses or attempts to use any bat other then wood. No advancement on the bases will be allowed and any out or outs made during a play shall stand. The batter will be ejected from the game.

(i) Rain Outs-

            1. Facilities committee/commissioner will have the first determination for canceling games due to weather. In the event of cancellation, the commissioner will notify the team reps.

            2. All games canceled throughout the season will be rescheduled by the commissioner.

(j) All Players shall play and perform in a competent and professional manner.

(k) All players will abide by the Official Rules set forth by the CNEBL