With the exception of the final three innings of yesterday’s 9-1 loss to Miami, the Terrapin baseball team, victims of convincing thumpings in its last two conference series, had held its own against the No. 16 Hurricanes.

The Terps pitched well, played good defense and were aggressive on the basepaths. They did everything coach Erik Bakich said they needed to do to be competitive in the ACC.

But when the weekend was over, despite the Terps’ best efforts, Miami had its fifth weekend sweep and the Terps had their ninth straight loss, their longest losing streak in 15 years.

“There are no moral victories for close losses. It doesn’t matter to me — a loss is a loss,” Bakich said. “In the first two games, there were some signs of competitiveness and fight, but [yesterday] was a letdown. Knowing how to win is a skill, and it comes when you beat teams. It’s a lot easier to smell blood in the water when you have already done it.”

Throughout the Terps’ losing streak, the one bright spot has been the solid pitching of ace Brett Harman. Matched against Miami’s star lefthander, Chris Hernandez, Harman was nearly unhittable for the first four innings Friday, striking out two hitters in three of the first four innings. He entered the bottom of the fifth inning with seven strikeouts and a 1-0 lead, thanks to an RBI single from designated hitter Gary Schneider.

The Hurricanes finally solved him when, with one out, right fielder Nathan Melendres drove an 0-1 offering from Harman deep over the left-field fence. Before Harman could get comfortable again, five straight Hurricanes reached base, scoring two runs and taking the lead for good in their 5-1 win.

Determined to not let another Saturday afternoon game devolve into a blowout, the Terps jumped out to an early one-run lead when shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez hit his third leadoff home run and fifth overall of the season.

Miami (34-11, 18-6 ACC) quickly stormed back for two runs against starter Eric Potter in the bottom of the first inning, but the Terps came right back with two more of their own in the top of the second. They could’ve had more, but Schneider was caught trying to steal third base and left fielder Jon Wilson popped out to end the threat.

Just two innings later, Miami retook the lead when designated hitter Michael Broad grounded into a double play that plated left fielder Chris Pelaez for a 4-3 advantage. And by the time the Terps (15-33, 4-20) scored a fourth run of their own, the Hurricanes already had a three-run lead in what would be a 6-4 victory.

Yesterday’s loss marked the first time the Terps have lost nine games in a row since 1995. They’ll try to break the streak tomorrow at Towson, which beat them 3-1 in the teams’ last meeting.

But until then, Bakich said the Terps will try not to dwell on what was perhaps their most disappointing series loss of the season.

“Right now, we are moving forward,” Bakich said. “I could sit here and talk about what we did wrong, but there is no reason to relive that stuff. What good will it do? We just got to go back to work and figure out how to continue to get better.”

lemaire@umdbk.com