After a conference home series loss to Gonzaga, BYU Baseball’s RPI has dropped more than 40 points since the March 12 report.

With a pre-conference 2019 schedule played against mostly losing-record teams, BYU Baseball now finds itself going 1-2 against Gonzaga and chasing teams in the WCC which have mostly improving RPIs.

Here’s the West Coast Conference RPI standings as of March 17:

• Pepperdine – 19 (up from 39 on March 12)
• Gonzaga – 40 (up from 92 on March 12)
• San Francisco – 52 (up from 86 on March 12)
• Loyola Marymount – 70 (down from 60 on March 12)
• San Diego – 71 (up from 91 on March 12)
• Portland – 77 (down from 69 on March 12)
• St. Mary’s – 79 (up from 99 on March 12)
• Pacific – 91 (down from 63 on March 12)
• BYU – 120 (down from 79 on March 12)
• Santa Clara – 280 (up from 292 on March 12)

BYU Baseball’s total runs for the Gonzaga series was 11. That puts their runs per game average for the Gonzaga series at a mere 3.66. To put that into perspective, going into conference play, the team’s runs per game average was 6.46. Basically, the Gonzaga pitching staff, even with their ace Casey Legumina not throwing a single inning, silenced BYU hitters in half. But opposing pitching was only one factor. BYU’s starting line-up hitters, with batting averages that have been inflated by pre-conference mediocre pitching, are dropping … and some of them significantly. With higher quality WCC pitching coming now every weekend, there’s much to be concerned about in terms of BYU’s ability to put together quality at bats that will win weekend series. And in order to be in the top 4 teams that make the WCC tournament, everyone knows that you must win the weekend series. BYU must get their senior and junior upper classmen, who have more experience against WCC pitching, in the hitting groove.