Baseball Ruling

Question
I submitted this question in August to Andrew Mullins on here, but never received an answer, so I'm hoping you can help.

The game was at a Senior Division (age 16-18) MLB RBI Regional Tournament.

Here's the situation: The home team was in the field and had an 8-7 lead with 1 out in the last inning (bottom of 7th).  The visitors had a runner on 3rd base.  A fly ball was hit to right field.  The runner went halfway to home.  While the ball was in the air, he started back to 3rd base, but pulled up 2 or 3 steps short, then ran home.  He never tagged up.  The right fielder threw home, but the throw was too late.  The catcher threw to the 3rd baseman who stepped on the bag.  The field umpire called "safe."  The pitcher stepped on the rubber and faced the batter, then stepped off and threw to 3rd base.  The home plate umpire ruled that the runner never tagged up and called him out.  Since the run was taken away, instead of an 8 all tie, the game was over and the home team was an 8-7 winner.  The visiting coach argued that two appeals can't be made on the same play, so the first one has to stand.  The umpires conferred and the base umpire admitted the player didn't tag up, but they still reversed the call again, making the score 8-8 with 2 outs.  The visitors scored 2 more runs to take a 10-8 lead.  The final score was visitors 10 home 9.

The explanation the umpires gave was that when the 3rd baseman looked at the field umpire after stepping on 3rd base while the place was still live, that was the first appeal, so no further appeals would be allowed.  The home team argued that, since the play was still live, it was not an appeal, and that the only appeal was after the pitcher made the ball live again and threw to 3rd base.  The field umpire said a player should not look at an umpire unless he's appealing.  The home team argued that, for example, a fielder who tags a runner who is attempting a steal would look at the umpire to see his call, and that this would not be an appeal.  Before play continued, the home team filed a protest with the home plate umpire. A written protest was given to a tournament offical within 24 hours, but this shouldn't have been necessary due to the rules stating that protests would be handled on the spot before play could continue (except in cases of inelegible players). Now the tournament is over and it's been 48 hours, and still no ruling.

I have 2 questions:
1) Was the two appeal ruling correct and, if so, what is the explanation.

2) If a protest that should be handled on the spot isn't, what would be the outcome when it's ruled on later?  A different umpire at the tournament said if the protest was upheld, it would be ruled an 8-7 win for the home team since the game was officially over.  He said if the protest had resulted in the game needing to be resumed at the point the protest was filed, the score at that point would be considered the final score since the tournament was already over.  If the protest was disallowed, the result on the field would stand with a visitor 10 home 9 score."

Answer
Bruce,

Crazy situation!

Question #1.  There is no rule that there can't be multiple appeals on one play.  On a game winning home run, it wouldn't be unprecedented for a pitcher to take their position on the mound and throw to each base checking to see if the batter possibly missed a bag.  As far as a player looking at an umpire counting as an appeal?  That is not correct at all.

Question #2.  I believe the umpire's answer was correct.

Hope this helps!

Brian