SCRANTON — Since losing in last year’s district final in heartbreaking fashion, Riverside was on a mission to get back to this year’s title game.

Caeleb Borowski helped make sure that happened.

The junior combined with Nick Bohenek on a five-hit shutout as the top-seeded Vikings blanked No. 4 Lakeland, 6-0, in the District 2 Class 3A semifinals Thursday afternoon at the University of Scranton’s Volpe Field.

Bohenek, Jose Sosa and Chris Graff each had two hits for Riverside (19-2). Graff and Cooper Borowski both drove in two runs as the Vikings advanced to Thursday’s final against No. 3 seed Dunmore. The Bucks outlasted No. 2 Lake-Lehman in its semifinal, 6-5, in 19 innings. It will be a rematch of last year’s district championship game in which Dunmore rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 4-3 victory.

“This is my third district championship in four years,” said Graff, a senior. “We won my freshman year, lost last year. It was tragic. We’re just going to get after it and play the same baseball we always have. We’re hoping for a better outcome. We’re confident we’re going to swing it, we’re going to pitch it. We’re all feeling really good.

“We’ve brought it up a lot this year to motivate ourselves. It hurt us all. We were talking in school today about how we were sitting on the field for five minutes watching them celebrate. We just needed to get back. We’re going to come ready.”

Lakeland (15-6) certainly tried to spoil Riverside’s return trip. Twice, the Chiefs had the bases loaded, but Caeleb Borowski wriggled out of trouble.

“Against a team like Riverside, you have to cash in on every opportunity that you have because you don’t get many of them,” Lakeland coach Larry Piccini said. “He (Borowski) mixed his pitches and kept us off-balance. We just couldn’t come up with a timely hit.”

Riverside took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when it loaded the bases on walks to Graff and Cooper Borowski and a single by Caleb Sosa. Ben Kulikowski followed with an RBI fielder’s choice.

With one out in the top of the third, Dylan Loomis and Carson Stephens singled and Jackson Pochas walked to load the bases for the Chiefs. But Caeleb Borowski got a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to end the threat.

“I felt the pressure a little bit,” Caeleb Borowski said. “My pitching coach came out and told me to calm down there and not rush forward to the plate. I locked in a little bit, got some strikes, got some outs. I really felt my curveball was moving very good today. I thought it was pretty sharp. I’d mix in a fastball and two-seam every now and then and keep batters on their toes.”

In the bottom of the third, the Vikings capitalized on Caeleb Borowski’s escape. Jose Sosa led off with a single. One out later, Bohenek singled. Graff had an RBI single to score Sosa and make it 2-0. Cooper Borowski then poked a double into the left-field corner to score both Bohenek and Graff to extend the margin to 4-0.

J.P. Malak singled with one out in the top of the fourth for Lakeland and Ty Sokoloski walked. With two outs, Loomis walked and again the Chiefs had the bases loaded. But Caeleb Borowski got the next batter on the first pitch to foul out to catcher Graff.

“That was a fastball,” Caeleb Borowski said. “That was the nine-hitter and the first time up. He was a little late on it. So I figured I’d keep up the speed and see what happens, try to get a groundout or something.”

Four consecutive two-out hits in the bottom of the fourth brought home two more runs for Riverside. Jose Sosa had a hustle double, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jason Posluszny. After Bohenek singled, Graff had his second RBI single of the game to give the Vikings a 6-0 cushion.

“Lakeland’s a tough team. It’s tough to score on them. They don’t make errors and they don’t walk too many guys,” Riverside coach Sean Hughes said. “It’s really tough to piece three or four hits together. We really had to work for our runs today.”

Caeleb Borowski allowed three hits in four innings with three walks and five strikeouts. He threw 72 pitches, 42 for strikes. Bohenek relieved him in the top of the fifth and protected that margin the rest of the way, giving up two hits and striking out three in three innings.

“Caeleb’s a guy who can handle the pressure,” Hughes said. “It’s really his first year pitching at the varsity level. It’s impressive how he stays composed, pounds the strike zone and trusts his defense.

“The gameplan was for the two of them to throw today. But we were able to go an extra inning with Caeleb, which was great because Nick was up to bat and it would have been tough to get him warmed up. Getting out of bases loaded at any point is huge, but especially in the playoffs.”

Now that they are back in the final, the Vikings will try to avenge last year’s loss.

“Our guys came in locked in. We talked about what playoffs mean and the goals we have this season,” Hughes said. “With (last year) still in our minds, we’re going to try to get over it. We’re still hungry. We want that district championship back. It’s not going to be easy, though.”

Although its season ended, Lakeland made great strides this season with a young team. The Chiefs improved from seven wins last year to 15 this season.

“I think it’s been eight years since a Lakeland team won 15 games,” Piccini said. “We’re definitely taking steps in the right direction from a program standpoint. We’re only losing two seniors, so we went from a very young team the last two years to a very old team the next two years. Our young guys gained a lot of valuable experience these last two years. Most of the sophomores who played this year played as freshmen, as well.”

Class 1A

At Susquehanna, the host Sabers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Forest City, 5-4, in the District 2 Class 1A semifinals.

Caeden Stone threw a complete-game seven-hitter with four runs (three earned), one walk and six strikeouts for No. 2 seed Susquehanna (6-12), which had only five hits, all singles.

Forest City scored three times in the top of the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead. Jeremy Slick and Jeremiah Burleigh each had two hits for the No. 3 seeded Foresters (2-14). Wyatt Reynolds tripled and knocked in two.

Susquehanna advances to face No. 1 seed MMI Prep on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.