Air Force Falcons coach Frank Serratore tabbed freshman defenseman Owen Baumgartner as a player the team needs to step up once senior captain Luke Rowe leaves. 

Serratore probably didn’t mean this weekend. But even so, Baumgartner was up to the task. 

With Rowe out with an injury Saturday at Atlantic Hockey Association-leading No. 20 Rochester Institute of Technology, Baumgartner scored twice including the game winner in the third period to give the Falcons a 3-2 win and a series split. 

With the game knotted at two goals apiece in the third period, Baumgartner put a shot past RIT goalie Tommy Scarfone from the slot at 12:42 of the period. Fellow freshman Brendan Gibbons was credited with the assist. 

The defenseman out of Owatonna, Minn. opened the scoring with a goal on a breakaway at 3:34 of the second. 

Of note, Tigers netminder Scarfone one of 10 semifinalists — to include Colorado College’s Kaidan Mbereko — for the Mike Richter award given annually to the top goaltender in college hockey.

After the host Tigers took a 2-1 lead on goals from Matthew Wilde and Simon Isabelle in the second intermission, Air Force senior winger and assistant captain Parker Brown scored on the power play to tie the game at 2:49 of the third period.

As good as the Falcons were offensively, Guy Blessing matched it in goal, saving a career-best 41 shots Saturday. 

With Rowe’s time at Air Force coming to an end following the Falcons’ regular season finale next week, Saturday’s victory gives the team some much-needed confidence about going into the postseason without him. 

“We’re not going to have a greater challenge than going into the (Gene) Polisseni Center here against RIT, the first place team, playing without Luke Rowe/ Ee’re not going to have a bigger challenge than we had tonight and we found a way to get it done,” Serratore said in a postgame radio interview. “We’re going into the playoffs and I really believe because of this effort tonight there’s going to be absolutely no doubt in anybody’s mind down in the pit of their belly, that we can it done.” 

Following a 7-3 loss to RIT Friday, the win Saturday puts Air Force in fourth in the AHA standings which would give the Falcons a first-round bye and a home playoff series. With a home series against Robert Morris, which ranks near the bottom of the league, remaining, Air Force is in control of its postseason destiny. 

The Falcons improved to 16-17-1 and 13-10-1 in the AHA. 

Owen Baumgartner skates up ice (Photo by Trevor Cokley, Air Force Athletics)

(Photo by Trevor Cokley, Air Force Athletics)