The second team to leave the 2021 College World Series will be one of the top three seeds in the NCAA baseball tournament.

The second-ranked Texas Longhorns and third-seeded Tennessee Volunteers clash on Tuesday afternoon for the right to stay in the tournament and face the loser of the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Virginia and Mississippi State sprung the upsets over the top national seeds left in the tournament through fantastic pitching performances.

Tuesday's nightcap could be impacted more by the bats since Will Bednar and Andrew Abbott are unable to toe the rubber again.

The Virginia-Mississippi State winner advances to the semifinal round and will be off until Friday while the teams with one loss battle to stay alive.

Tuesday College World Series Schedule

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Tennessee (2 p.m. ET, ESPNU)

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

Games can be live-streamed on ESPN.com or ESPN app

Previews

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Tennessee

Texas and Tennessee each suffered their first loss since the NCAA tournament began on Sunday.

The Longhorns were silenced by Mississippi State's Bednar, while the Volunteers could not get much off Virginia's Abbott.

Neither team lost consecutive games on a regular basis this season, so they should be well equipped to bounce back.

Tennessee only lost back-to-back contests once in the regular season. Texas had three losing streaks. The longest one was three games to start the series. Two of those losses came against Mississippi State and the No. 1 overall seed Arkansas Razorbacks.

After their last defeats, Texas and Tennessee pounded opposing pitching to kick off the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

The pair of seeded programs will face much more difficult pitching on Tuesday, which could lead to a low-scoring affair to start.

The two sides combined for one run on 10 hits in their openers at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

They both have the ability to break out of the small slumps, but do not expect an overcorrection in offensive production.

Texas' pitching staff has not allowed more than four runs in a single NCAA tournament contest and Tennessee limited its last five foes to six runs or fewer.

The quality of the pitching staffs should limit the amount of runs and give us a different elimination game than Monday's affair between the Stanford Cardinal and Arizona Wildcats.

No. 7 Mississippi State vs. Virginia

Game 2 for Mississippi State and Virginia could be all about their offensive stars.

With their aces not available on full rest until the championship series, the Bulldogs and Cavaliers will experience some dip in quality on the mound.

That could open the door for the top hitters in each lineup to flex their muscles with a semifinal spot on the line.

Mississippi State may be better equipped to break out the bats since it scored 51 runs in the regional and super regional rounds.

The Bulldogs' top four hitters accounted for four of the five hits against Texas. Leadoff man Rowdey Jordan had two of those base knocks.

If Jordan gets on base multiple times on Tuesday, the Bulldogs will be in a better position to produce runs and set up Landon Sims for a two-or-three-inning save.

Virginia scored more than eight runs once in the NCAA tournament and that occurred in the regional round opener.

The Cavaliers have not broken the six-run mark in their last five games, and if they are unable to keep Mississippi State's hitters quiet, it could hurt their potential to win.

Statistics obtained from D1Baseball.com.