In baseball, a sacrifice hit (also called a sacrifice bunt) is the act of deliberately bunting the ball in a manner that allows a runner on base to advance to another base, while the batter is himself put out. Baseball is a team sport in which a player on one team (the pitcher) attempts to throw a hard, fist-sized ball at a player on the other team (the batter), who attempts to hit the baseball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat that can be made out of either... A bunt is a special type of offensive technique in baseball or fastpitch softball. ... Batter can have several meanings: In cooking, batter is a thick or thin mixture, usually made of a ground grain, a liquid, and a fat. ...

The most common situations in which this is a desirable goal for the batting team is when there are less than two outs, and a runner on first or runners are on first and second base. The runners try to advance as soon as they see the bunted ball will not be caught. A properly executed sacrifice hit in this scenario puts the ball up the first base line with a runner on first, or down the third base line with runners at first and second. This avoids an inning-ending double play and results in the runner(s) advancing to second (and third) base. An innings, or inning, is a segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably baseball and cricket – during which a side takes its turn to bat. ... After stepping on second base, the fielder throws to first to complete a double play In baseball, a double play (denoted on statistics sheets by DP) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. ...

A successful sacrifice hit does not count as an at bat. However, if the scorer believes that the batter was attempting to bunt for a base hit, and not solely to advance the runners, he is not credited with a sacrifice hit and is charged an at-bat. In baseball statistics, an at bat (AB) is used to calculate other data such as batting average. ...

A sacrifice hit attempted while a runner is on third is called a squeeze play. In baseball, a squeeze play is a sacrifice bunt with a runner on third and fewer than two outs. ...

A sacrifice hit is not the same as a sacrifice fly. In baseball, a batted ball is considered a sacrifice fly (denoted by SF) if the following four criteria are met: There are fewer than two outs. ...

In scoring, a sacrifice hit may be denoted by SH, S, or occasionally, SAC.