Piedmont University Sports Communication major Brett Loftis isn’t a stranger to sportscasting. He’s a familiar face and voice to division three college sports lovers, with his calls going viral on multiple occasions. But a call earlier this month earned recognition from a household name that left Lofits speechless— something he very rarely is.
On the evening of March 6, the Piedmont Lions baseball team was down 9-3 against Methodist University going into the bottom of the eighth inning. In a turn of events, the Lions scored a whopping six runs in the bottom of the eighth, tying up the score for the ninth.
And then, in a fit of over-the-moon screams, Lofits called a win for the Lions as Cole Ellis slid into home from second base at the bottom of the 10th, winning their game at Piedmont’s Loudermilk Field, called “the milk jug” by students and fans.
“He’s safe!” Loftis called. “Lions win, Lions win, Lions win, Lions win! Milk jug magic!”
FINAL B10 | WALK OFF WIN!
Who else but Carter Ballstadt to walk it off in the 10th! SEVEN UNANSWERED RUNS!
Piedmont 10, Methodist 9 pic.twitter.com/e582QmftOc
— Piedmont Lions Baseball (@PULionsBaseball) March 7, 2022
The call, posted to the Piedmont Lions Baseball twitter, was featured in Golf Digest and “blew up” from there, attracting the attention of a well-known sportscaster and Loftis’ inspiration: Bob Costas.
Wednesday, Loftis was calling the Lions Softball doubleheader, when he noticed something was going on.
“I was sitting there calling the game and we were in the top of the sixth inning and [Athletic Communications Director] Danielle [Percival] has a freakout because she gets like an email in the middle of the ball game,” Loftis tells Now Habersham. “It was either bad or good or somewhere in between, but something just happened. So I get done calling the game, and they tell me to be on standby after my field interview.”
Loftis knew something was up, especially when the athletic communications staff kept asking him to make sure his phone was charged and to meet them at the Mize Atheltic Center.
“I walked over to the indoor facility, they set up four or five different cameras, told me to turn my ringer on, and then I should be expecting a phone call,” Loftis said. “I had no earthly idea what it would be about . . . and then Bob Costas called me and told me I was going to be featured on his show.”
Loftis, starstruck to have his inspiration for sportscasting on the phone, was at a loss for words.
Costas told Loftis he’d be featuring his call on his show, “Back on the Record with Bob Costas,” alongside Billy Crystal, this Friday.
“He’s the epitome of sports broadcasts and he’s probably the greatest to ever do it,” Loftis said. “So for him to give me a contact and say that he’s a big fan of mine, and to be featured on his show— yeah, it’s definitely been a life-changing past couple of days.”
Loftis, a Piedmont senior, says even with the attention he’s getting from national sports media, he’s trying to stay humble and give credit where it’s due.
“I put in a lot of hard work, but, I don’t necessarily think that I need to be recognized for it,” Loftis said. “It’s really our professors— Dale Van Cantfort has played a major role in this, Joe Dennis, Melissa Tingle, Dr. Moss, Professor Jackson— all of those professors, they’ve played a major role in it.”
He also credits Percival and Assistant Communications Director Troy Weiman for giving him the opportunity to broadcast and share his calls on social media. But while Loftis might not want to brag on himself, his professors don’t mind doing it at all.
“Brett has put in a lot of hard work over the past three years,” Van Cantfort says. “He’s listened to what we’ve been telling him in all of his classes, he’s applied it to real-world situations, and he’s taken advantage of opportunities that, 20 years ago, wouldn’t have been out there, because of social media. He’s got so much more exposure and now he’s made contacts with all sorts of people throughout his network, including Bob Costas. You can’t beat that.”
Dennis shares similar sentiments.
“This is a well-deserved and incredible opportunity for Brett,” he says. “Since he came here and enrolled as our first ports communication major at Piedmont, he’s been really working hard towards becoming an announcer. It’s really not surprising, with the amount of work he’s put in, the success that he’s receiving.”
The show begins at 11 p.m. tonight, Friday, April 1, on HBO Max. Loftis plans to kick back in his dorm room and watch, while friends, family and the Piedmont Baseball team, who are traveling to Kentucky, watch from other corners of the nation.
