COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M flirted with disaster Friday afternoon against Lamar, but avoided the fate other No. 1 seeds have suffered in the first game of the NCAA Baseball Regionals.

After falling behind 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning, the Aggies righted the ship to take game one of the College Station Regional 7-5.

For most of the game, it looked like A&M was going to follow the route of UCLA, Auburn and Southern Miss as one seeds that were beaten by four seeds Friday. It looked especially grim in the top of the fourth, when Lamar designated hitter Beau Durbin homered to chase starter Shane Sdao after three-plus subpar innings to put Lamar, the four seed in the College Station Regional, up 4-0. Reliever Gavin Lyons gave up another home run two batters later to second baseman Kevin Duran to put the Cardinals ahead 5-0 with more than half the game left.

But Lyons righted the ship, holding Lamar to just one more hit over four innings of works, striking out four. That allowed the Aggie offense, which had been dormant since being shut out by Auburn in the SEC Tournament, to come to life.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies finally jumped on Lamar ace Chris Olivier. First baseman Gavin Grahovac hit a home run to start the inning, then centerfielder Caden Sorrell was hit by a pitch and then got into a verbal sparring match with catcher Jake Wagoner before heading to first.

Perhaps rattled by the incident involving Sorrell, Olivier grooved a pitch to DH Chris Hacopian, who promptly put it in the left field bleachers in Aggie Alley to make the score 5-3. Olivier held the Aggie scoreless in the sixth, but was pulled in favor of Julius Carpio. A&M took full advantage.

After striking out Grahovac to start the bottom of the seventh, Sorrell walked after a nine pitch at-bat. Hacopian reached on an infield single, then left fielder Jake Duer was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Carpio then walked third baseman Nico Partida, forcing home a run. Catcher Bear Alexander then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

After closer Clayton Freshcorn worked a quick top of the eighth, the Aggies finally took the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Second baseman Ben Royo roped a double down the left field line on the first pitch of the inning, putting the go ahead run in scoring position. Coach Michael Earley then called on pinch hitter Travis Chestnut to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but the effort rolled straight to Carpio.

Instead of taking his time, Carpio rushed, first muffing the ball then throwing the ball wide of first in an effort to beat the speedy Chestnut. Royo came around to score, giving A&M its first lead of the game at 6-5. A cramping Grahovac then engaged in a 10-pitch at-bat that took nearly seven minutes and included a Gatorade break for the Aggie leadoff hitter. Grahovac eventually walked, which closed the book in a disastrous outing for Carpio: 2 innings pitched, 3 runs (2 earned), 3 walks and two strikeouts.

Nathan Darden then walked Sorrell to load the bases with nobody out, allowing Hacopian to drive in Chestnut with a sacrifice fly. The Aggies did not score again, but Freshcorn made the 7-5 lead hold up in the top of the ninth, working around an error by Chestnut at second base to close things out.

The Aggies will play the winner of tonight’s game between USC and Texas State tomorrow at 8 p.m.