illegal bat

Question
We had a game last night and the other team claimed our player hit a home run with an illegal bat.  There were two umpires who looked at the bat and since the bat was so worn could not determine whether or not the bat was legal.  They took away the HR scored by that player and ejected him from the game.  Then in the next inning decided he could return to the game.  Our team won, and then AFTER the game was over the umpires decided the game needed to be replayed from the inning when this occurred.  Our team walked (and it was a championship game).  What is the correct ruling when the umpire is not sure if the bat is illegal or not?

Answer
Hi Lynda,

The penalty for an illegal bat is just an out (and all runners return to their previous base(s) if app).  I would call a bat so worn as to not be able to determine what it is an illegal bat not an altered or non approved bat with much more severe penalties.  We call the batter out, remove the bat and play on, they made way too much out of this.

Mark