Baseball takes off Down Under//The Daily Yomiuri.

Baseball takes off Down Under Jim Allen Yomiuri First it was the Cricket World Cup. Then, Australia won the Rugby Union World Cup. Now, with Australia's surprising victory in last month's Intercontinental Cup, add baseball to the list of team sports that the nation has achieved international success in. "It was great for us," said Don Knapp, the director of operations for the Australian Baseball Federation. Australia went 8-1 in the tournament, losing only once--in the preliminary round-robin to defending champion Japan. The hosts got even in their semifinal game, however, when they beat Japan 2-0, before taking down powerhouse Cuba 4-3 in an exciting final in front of a crowd of 9,000 in Sydney. "It was a very good atmosphere in the gold medal game," Knapp said. Everyone was on their feet in the final inning. It was electric." And despite having a small fan base, the Cup games got excellent …