A native of Chesterfield Missouri, Buffa attended and played collegiate baseball at Millsaps College in Jackson Mississippi, playing only one season for the Majors posting a 7-2 record with four complete games and 2.98 ERA in 16 appearances and 81.2 total innings, in 2007. Prior to Millsaps, Buffa was a standout pitcher at Washington University in St. Louis Missouri, where he received First Team All-Central Region honors in 2005 and Second Team All-Central Region honors in 2006 after posting a 20-3 record with a 1.86 and 2.81 ERA, respectively. In 2009, Buffa pitched for the Canada Miners in the first-ever professional summer league that was operated by the Golden League of Professional Baseball, in Tucson Arizona. Buffa appeared in six games for the Miners making three starts posting a 3-0 record striking out 19 and walking just 8 batters while compiling a 2.59 ERA, in 24.1 innings of work. During the off-season, the Millsaps graduate plans to continue his work as the assistant pitching coach for Millsaps College which is a position held since 2008.