In the end the powerhouse won out.

But while Australia's baseballers didn't win gold, their silver was akin to Australia having a medallist in the 100 metres sprint on the track.

Australia were matching it with baseball's best Olympic team, challenging its domain, and doing so only a day after beating Japan, another nation where baseball is a major sport.

Australia cannot be too disappointed with silver after losing the final to Cuba 6-2.

Not bad for a nation that no longer has a national league.

The sport has received its best publicity in many years.
Now it only needs to keep some of that spotlight shining in the crucial 'in-between years' - the four years until the next Olympics.

'What it will do for the sport is exposure, and I'm sure it is happening back in Australia right now,' team captain David Nilsson said.
'A lot of people who have been involved for a long time are hopefully very happy, and you'll see a lot more kids being drawn to the game by what we've done over the last couple of weeks.'

Nilsson said the silver medal was another stepping stone for the game in Australia.
'It's progressed rapidly over the last 10 or 15 years, and hopefully this is just one of the many things to happen positively for Australian baseball in the future.'

Australia have had no less than seven players feature in the major league in the US this year, with many other youngsters playing in the minors.

It augurs well for the future of the national team, particularly looking to Beijing in 2008, according to manager Jon Deeble.
'We came here to win a gold medal and we fell short of that, and that's the way we're looking at it,' Deeble said.
'But we're going to come back bigger and stronger in China.
We've got a lot of up-and-coming players in the States, and Australia are going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years.'