Runners on first and second with no out; runners try to steal; the batter pops up; the infield fly rule is called so the batter was out; the third base coach stops the runner who was stealing third but the runner stealing second keeps going and passes the other runner so he was out; finally the ball hits the runner as he is retreating to second so he was out. Now I'm wondering if this should, by the official rulebook, be a triple play. It would seem to me that once an infield fly rule is called, then the ball is "dead in the air". Can the runner going back to second really be out if the ball his him in this case? That triple play story happened in some spring training game, so I doubt the umps were real sticklers for the rules during such an esoteric baseball scenario. The batter is automatically out, but runners advance on their own risk. On a caught infield fly, a runner must tag up in order to be eligible to advance, as on any catch. If the infield fly falls to fair ground untouched, or is touched and dropped, runners need not tag up. In either case, since the batter is out, the force play on other runners is removed.