On Saturday afternoon, it appeared as if it was the same song on a different day for the Terrapins baseball team.

For the third time in three days, the Terps had squandered an early lead to the No. 19 Virginia, and the Cavaliers were poised to sweep the regular season finale Saturday at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium.

But as they have all year – most notably on May 7 at No. 1 Florida State – the Terps fought back. They earned a 6-5 walk-off win on their senior day and completing one of the best regular seasons in recent program history.

“Our guys don’t quit,” coach Erik Bakich said. “There’s never any quit in our team. That’s one of my favorite qualities in this group. They’re extremely resilient.”

And on the day set aside to honor nine of the program’s departing players, it was the senior the Terps have relied on all year who came through when they needed it most.

With second baseman Kyle Convissar on third with two outs and the Terps trailing 5-4 in the ninth, shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez fisted an RBI line drive into shallow right field. His first hit in five at-bats tied the game and set himself up to score the winning run from first on right fielder Jordan Hagel’s double into the left field corner.

“It was great,” Rodriguez said. “I can’t really put it into words. It was just a great way to end it and I’m just really excited and happy I can go out on a good note at Shipley Field.”

It didn’t look like Rodriguez’s heroics would be needed, though. The Terps got one run off of Virginia starter Artie Lewicki in the first, the third time in the series they scored first. Lewicki would settle down and retire 16 straight Terps while the Cavaliers took a 2-1 lead, but the Terps offense reignited in the seventh to score three runs and take a 4-2 lead.

But Virginia – as they had on Thursday and Friday – came back, taking a 5-4 lead off of right-hander Sander Beck in the ninth inning.

“It was tough,” Rodriguez said. “They came back and knocked us down a little bit, but we were able to come back and end well today. It was just a good opportunity. We knew we were in the thick of things all three games, so it was just good to end on a high note.”

It squandered a solid outing by right-hander David Carroll, who allowed four runs on 11 hits and two walks over 7.2 innings, but it set the stage for Rodriguez’s timely play.

“I knew he was going to get a hit,” Bakich said. “I knew if Andrew [Amaro] didn’t get a hit, I knew A-Rod would. That’s just the type of player he is. He’s Mr. Clutch. He makes clutch plays. He gets clutch hits. It’s what leaders do.”

The win helped to erase some of the bad taste from the mouths of the Terps after squandering leads of 2-0 and 3-0 in the first two games of the series. Friday night’s loss was especially painful, as the Terps lead 3-2 entering the ninth, but four pitchers allowed the Cavaliers to score eight runs in a 10-3 loss.

On Thursday, Brett Harman made what could be his final start for the Terps and pitched seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and striking out five. The Terps came back from a late 7-4 deficit, but the game ended with the tying run stranded on third base in a 7-6 loss.

And while those games could have hurt the Terps – they won’t qualify for the ACC Tournament and appear to be on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble – Hagel’s hit helped some in soaking in one final win at home.

“They came back in the late innings and it’s a little depressing,” Hagel said. “Even this game, we thought we had it in the bag up two runs in the eighth inning. Things didn’t really go our way. But we stick with it. We’re good at battling. It just happened for us. We’re due.”

dgallen@umdbk.com