Epic Comback Falls One Short As Tombstone Falls to Bisbee 11-10

FORT LOWELL, ARIZONA TERR., March 28, 2026

On October 19, 1864, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley. In the morning, it looked like a route. The Confederates had captured more than a 1,000 Union soldiers and dozens of artillery. But in the afternoon, the Union rallied. They pushed the grays back, got all their gear back, maintained supremacy of the Shenandoah Valley, and ensured the reelection of Abraham Lincoln.

It was a comeback for the ages. But during counterattack, a brigadier general named Charles Russell Lowell III was killed. Two years later, a United States outpost on the eastern outskirts of Tucson named after Lowell.

On Saturday, at the long abandoned outpost of Fort Lowell, there was another comeback. Only this time, the good guys came up short.

As the 4th Cavalry Regimental Band played as part of the Fort Lowell Day festivities, the Tombstone nine took the field against the Black Sox from Bisbee. In an effort to avoid a repeat of the previous affair in Tombstone, when the Black Sox scored 5 before the graveyard gang ever came to bat, Tombstone captain “The Reverend” won the bat toss but chose to bat first. It almost paid off, as a string of hits had men on first and second with two outs. Unfortunately, Schultzie, more accustomed to the Michigan rules, attempted a headfirst slide into third base, avoiding the tag but being called out for the infraction.

Bisbee came out in the bottom of the inning, and strung together a rally after two miscues in the field. But sure-handed hurling by mid-season pick up “Jockey” Jim Sears stopped the bleeding. Perhaps the biggest blow to Tombstone came in the top of the second, when Marco Magliaccio, in his very first at bat in Arizona, pulled a hamstring on the way to first. Already shorthanded, with Big Jimmy Green, Lane Wilkins and Wes “Commish” Abarca unable to make the game—and “Fingers” out with an undisclosed injury, Tombstone was now at a deep disadvantage. The squad got one run back on an RBI ground out by the Reverend, before Bisbee came back with two more. Fleet and Ken, substitutes from the mixed nine, combined for two runs, as the teams went back and forth.

The score stayed close until a disastrous fifth inning. In quicksand-like inning, Bisbee put together a string of hits and coupled with two errors in the field, five runs were piled on. By the end of the sixth, it was 11-4, and looked to be a rout. But just like the blue coats at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Tombstone came roaring back. Timely hitting from everyone on the squad saw Tombstone score run after run.

With Jorge “The Grouch” sweating with the prospect of losing a big league, hurler Adam Laurent continued to throw his junk balls at the strikers of Fremont Street. And each one was handled with aplomb.  

After a long fly ball out by “Fleet”, which may have been a homerun in some parks, a two-out hit by “Schultzie” brought Tombstone within three. “The Reverend” then slammed his first pitch down the third base line for a two-run single. With men on first and second and two outs, the Team Too Tough To Die was on the cusp tying the game. The next striker hit a hard line drive into right center. Schultzie was on his way home. But alas the ball was caught on one hop and the game was over.

The 4th Cavalry Regimental Band had long since stopped playing. The visitors had packed up their things, and the gates to the ruins of the Fort’s old hospital were locked up. The only thing left on the ground was the blood, sweat and tears of the Tombstone nine.