Far be it from me to say it’s time to panic about West Virginia’s baseball team. It’s still comfortably above .500 and in the top 20 of the RPI, and eight games remain. Again, as long as the Mountaineers keep the bed clean, they ought to make a NCAA regional for the first time since 1996.

But last night, WVU lost to an inferior baseball team. Since winning the three-game series against TCU and reaching the top 25, the Mountaineers are 6-7, and the last team to lose a Big 12 series has lost three straight Big 12 series.

They’re not making it easy on themselves.

Penn State was 12 games below .500 before a six-game losing streak preceded Tuesday’s visit to Monongalia County Ballpark. The RPI was No. 228. The 6-5 loss was WVU’s first — in only 10 games — against teams 101 or worse in the RPI. And the Mountaineers were whiskers away from a different fate. Starting pitcher Carter Camp twice threw a two-strike, two-out curveball to the same batter in the bottom of the second and walked off the mound, thinking he’d thrown the third strike for the third out. Each time, the plate umpire raised his left hand.

Camp walked the batter, and a light-hitting freshman from Wheeling cranked his first home run of the season for a three-run home run and 3-1 lead.

Isaiah Kerns, previously a mid-week starter, made his first appearance since Apr. 25, which is good, but he allowed two runs in 2 2/3 innings and left trailing 5-2. WVU rallied to the the score with Cole Austin’s home run in the bottom of the eighth, but rubber-armed reliever Jackson Sigman, who relieved with two outs in the fifth, opened the ninth by hitting a batter and walking the next. He loaded the bases by walking a pinch hitter with one out, but Sigman nevertheless got Penn State’s speedy leadoff man — 9-for-9 in stolen bases this season — to roll over a low pitch and bounce a ball to second base, but the turn wasn’t fast enough to finish a 4-6-3 in time.

A run scored that way for a 6-5 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Jackson Cramer, whose average has dropped 53 points in 13 games and was left out if the starting lineup for the first time, pulled a ball to deep left field and missed a game-tying home run by five feet.

So, no, the Mountaineers are not lost, but they can’t afford too many more losses. They cannot get swept by Penn State. Tuesday’s loss dropped the RPI seven spots to No. 20, while Penn State jumped 11 to No. 217. Tonight’s game, of course, is at PNC Park, and WVU believes it’ll count as a road game in the RPI, which is as useful as the opportunity to play in a pro park — and that’s all manager Randy Mazey wanted when he picked up the phone in March and called Pirates president Frank Coonelly to see about rescheduling a snowed-out game against Penn State at PNC Park.

“It’s really just about the opportunity to play at PNC Park and give our student-athletes a chance to play in, I think, one of the best ballparks, if not the best ballpark, in the country,” said Matt Wells, WVU’s senior associate athletic director for external affairs and the athletic department’s baseball administrator. “It’s not a financial play as much as it’s an opportunity for the program and some associated benefits we might see for recruiting.”

Wells is aiming for a crowd in the neighborhood of 5,000. The rescheduled game was announced April 14.

“I think we’d all consider that to be a success the first time out for something that came together fairly quickly,” he said.

Win or lose, WVU has to win the weekend home series against Gardner-Webb and would help itself mightily with a sweep. Sweeps are hard, though, because of the nature of the injuries on the pitching staff. The Mountaineers needed Kerns to recover from an oblique injury, and they hope Michael Grove (arm) gets one start before the Big 12 tournament. Kerns could do a short start or some relief against Gardner-Webb (No. 166 in the RPI), but Grove is likely out again. B.J. Myers ought to be fresh after having his last two starts abbreviated by weather, but after him, all the options, even Alek Manoah (!), will need the bullpen.

WVU’s bullpen has a few arms, but it’s uncertain whether it has a few arms for a few days for a few weekends in a row. It’s not easy to ask young and new pitchers to step forward late in the season and continually excel beyond expectations or past performances.

Yet the issue, if we’re being honest, is the offense. Have a look at what’s happened in 13 games.

Cramer’s slide is surprising, and he’s homered once and driven in three runs in the past 13 games. Center fielder Brandon White’s average is down 60 points. An encouraging rise for Kyle Gray is partnered by a dip for Cole Austin. That’s happening while Kyle Davis and Ivan Gonzalez have made expected leaps 29 and 19 points. Mazey believes a player’s batting average can be an enemy, but look at the on-base percentages. In short, it’s been difficult for WVU to get to where it wants, never mind needs, to be offensively.

In this 6-7 stretch, the Mountaineers have outscored opponents 70-63 and averaged 5.4 runs in the 13 games, but that’s enhanced by a 17-run game in a one-off against Eastern Michigan (No. 203 in the RPI). Take away the EMU game, and WVU has been outscored by nine and averaged 4.4 runs in the other 12 games, and that’s enhanced by 17 runs at the front of those 12 remaining games. Take away those first two games and the 17-run game, and the Mountaineers have averaged 3.6 runs in the remaining 10 games.

That’s a bit forced, but you see the point. It’s trending, and relief came from an overmatched team WVU isn’t going to see as it nears or arrives in the postseason. Now put that next to a tested pitching staff. That’s not ideal. Not time to panic, but it’s time to wonder how WVU gets back to where it was.