Jason Buursma (2018) - Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame

Jason Buursma

Induction:
2018
Class:
2008

Seattle native Jason Buursma was elected to the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, after authoring one of the finest careers in Bucknell baseball history. Buursma was both an All-America and Academic All-America honoree, and remarkably over four years he was a five-time All-Patriot League selection at four different positions: 2005 at designated hitter, 2006 at both pitcher and first base, 2007 as a pitcher, and 2008 as an outfielder.

Buursma was selected as the Patriot League Player of the Year and Tournament MVP as a senior in 2008, when he led the team to a league title, an NCAA Regional berth, and a monumental upset of fourth-ranked Florida State on the opening night of the tournament. Buursma turned in a postseason for the ages. As a righthanded submariner on the mound, he was the winning pitcher in relief in all four of Bucknell’s Patriot League Tournament games, going 4-0 with a 0.00 earned-run average while allowing only three hits in 10 innings of work. He also went 5-for-10 and scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in both victories over Navy in the Patriot League championship series. And then against the Seminoles in the NCAA Regionals, he went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in Bucknell’s 7-0 win.

In 2008, Buursma hit .367 with 13 home runs and 37 RBIs, and as a pitcher he broke the school record with nine wins, going 9-3 with a 2.58 ERA in 20 appearances. He made three different All-America teams that year (ABCA, NCBWA, Ping). Buursma graduated with a school-record 24 home runs and 15 saves, while his career era of 2.13 ranked No. 2 all-time behind only Hall-of-Famer Don Richards.

Buursma was selected in the MLB Draft after both his junior and senior years at Bucknell. He was a 25th-round selection of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008, and he went on to pitch for four years in the Cardinals’ system, advancing as high as AAA in 2011. He also excelled in the classroom, earning the overall Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for all sports in 2008. He was a top-10 finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, and he earned the Christy Mathewson Award as the top athlete in his class. Buursma was later named to the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team.