College World Series 2021: TV, Live-Stream Schedule and Saturday Predictions

The Texas Longhorns and Mississippi State Bulldogs will play for a spot in the College World Series championship round on Saturday night. 

Texas won the second battle between the two programs in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday to force a winner-takes-all showdown at TD Ameritrade Park.

Saturday's winner will go head-to-head with the Vanderbilt Commodores, who advanced to the championship series through a no contest that was declared late on Friday night because of COVID-19 issues within the NC State Wolfpack program. 

Saturday College World Series Schedule

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 Mississippi State (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2)

Game can be live-streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app

Preview

The likely pitching matchup for Saturday night will pit Mississippi State's Will Bednar against Tristan Stevens of Texas. 

Bednar fanned 15 Texas batters on Sunday when the two sides met for the first time in their respective openers in Omaha. 

Texas carries the advantage of having seen Bednar once in the tournament. The Bulldogs have not hit against Stevens. 

The Longhorns also have a fresher bullpen than the SEC side, as they only used two hurlers behind Ty Madden in Friday's 8-5 victory. Texas has to beat Mississippi State twice because it came from the losers' bracket. 

Mississippi State called on six relievers after Houston Harding, but it avoided using Landon Sims, who could be vital on Saturday.

The Bulldogs could opt to use Bednar and Sims to fill a majority of the innings. If Bednar goes five or six frames, Sims could cover the rest since he has a fresh arm. 

The fear for Mississippi State is that Texas' hot bats get to Bednar and it will be forced to use Sims early to get out of a jam or call on some tired relievers to get the job done.

Since scoring once on Sunday, Texas produced 22 runs in three elimination games. It finished off the win on Friday night through a three-run home run off the bat of Ivan Melendez. 

Melendez and Zach Zubia, Texas' two best power hitters, both went yard against the Bulldogs on Friday. Mississippi State had a single extra-base hit in the contest. 

If Texas benefits from its previous matchup with Bednar, it could extend the red-hot run at the plate into Saturday and earn a spot in the finals versus Vanderbilt.

Regardless of which team advances, it will be at a disadvantage when the best-of-three championship series starts on Monday. 

Vanderbilt will have Jack Leiter ready to go on full rest in Game 1, and Kumar Rocker could come back on four days rest if it gets to Game 3. It would be hard for Mississippi State and Texas to bring back Bednar or Stevens on short rest for that series. 

Prediction: Texas 5, Mississippi State 3