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HOME OF THE LANDER UNIVERSITY BEARCATS #CLAWSUP
Jason Burke

Jason Burke

Jason Burke is entering his ninth season as head coach of the Lander baseball program. Burke became the Bearcats' sixth baseball coach when he was hired in August 2016.

Coach Burke was named the Peach Belt Conference's Coach of the Year after leading the Bearcats to a successful season in 2024. The team finished with an overall record of 38-15 and 21-6 in conference play. In addition, his leadership helped Lander claim its first regular-season Peach Belt Conference title since 2014. Under Burke's guidance, Ethan Wilder was named the PBC Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-PBC first team in the shortstop position. Connor Droze also joined Wilder on the first team as a designated hitter. Lander also held four spots on the All-PBC second team. Throughout the 2024 season, the baseball team earned four Player of the Week honors, two Pitcher of the Week honors, and three Freshman of the Week honors. Ethan Wilder (First Team) and Connor Droze (Second Team) were also recognized on the D2CCA Southeast All-Region, NCBWA Southeast All-Region, and ABCA All-Region Southeast teams. 

Under coach Burke, Lander went 25-27 overall and 17-13 in the PBC in 2023. The Bearcats took wins over No. 5 Columbus State and a series sweep over No. 11/17 Young Harris at Dolny Stadium. Connor Droze was named to the PBC All-Conference First Team as a DH while Will McCleallan was named to the First Team as both a catcher and utility player. The Bearcats also saw three players named as the PBC Freshman of The Week. McClellan won it three times while Tyler Overholt and Luke Johnson each won it once. Oliver Zohn was named the PBC Player of The Week as well. 

Coach Burke became the second winningest coach in program history and trails only Kermit Smith for wins leading the Bearcats.

2022 saw the Bearcats defeat then No. 1 Wingate 10-2 at Dolny Stadium earning Lander its biggest margin of victory against Wingate in program history. Under Burke's guidance, Vincent DeRubeis was named to the All-PBC first team as a utility player and second team as an outfielder. Connor Droze was also named Freshman of The Year and named to the All-PBC second team as the designated hitter. Droze became the first Bearcat since 2014 to be named FOTY when Brandon White earned the award and just the second Bearcat in the PBC's history to be named FOTY. Droze finished the season with a batting average of .350, a slugging percentage of .708 and an on-base percentage of .440 while setting the program's single season record for slugging percentage

The 2021 season saw the Bearcats enter the national rankings for the first time since 2016. Three players (Ward Betts, Roury Glanton and Marshall Thompson) were also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District® Baseball team. Thompson and Glanton were also named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, the first for Lander since 1997. Thompson  set the program single-season record for most strikeouts with 110 while tying the single-game record for most strikeouts with 13 three times.

Since arriving at Lander, Burke has coached nine all-Peach Belt Conference selections, one freshman of the year and has had three players selected in the MLB Draft (Alex Moore, Ryan Troutman, Fraser Ellard). 

Burke spent five seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Wofford College before coming to Lander. During his time with the Terriers, five Wofford pitchers were selected in the Major League Baseball draft and three were chosen to the All-Southern Conference team. Prior to his time at Wofford, Burke spent four seasons on the staff at Gardner-Webb under former Lander head coach Rusty Stroupe. Burke played for Stroupe at Lander in 2001. The former Bearcat player spent the 2006-07 seasons as an assistant at Wofford.

The Byrnes High graduate also has wooden-bat coaching experience with the Carolina Chaos (SCBL), and has served in a variety of coaching roles on the high school and American Legion levels.

Burke began his college playing career at Lander and finished at Southern Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 2004. He also completed a master's degree at Gardner-Webb in Sport Science and Pedagogy. He and his wife, Ansley, have one son, Sullivan.