In the end, the mountain was too big for the boys from Little Mountain.

The baseball team from Vancouver lost 7-3 to Japan on Wednesday at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn., with a third-straight upset not in the cards after falling behind 7-0 after three innings.

Canada beat Panama in extra innings on Monday before taking down South Korea on Tuesday, and Wednesday’s game against Japan was the furthest Canada had gone since 2017. Their 3-1 record coming in was the first time they’d had three wins since 1988.

The Canadians have never won the Little League World Series, with Ontario’s Stoney Creek team coming the closest by making the championship game in 1965, where they lost 3-1 to Windsor Locks from Connecticut.

Family and friends rooting for Canada at Volunteer Stadium held up signs “why not us?” and the sentiment prevailed through the first inning, with the game against the powerhouse Japanese staying scoreless.

But the Japanese team put up four runs in the second inning and another three in the third inning on Taiga Yumitori’s three-run blast off the right-field wall.

Canada fought back with their first hit of the game in the fourth inning, when Felix Hoyano’s RBI single cut the lead to 7-1.

With the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, Canada got an RBI single from Lucas Izen and a fielder’s choice from Jean Ramos to make it 7-3, but that was as close as they’d make it.

Japan advances to face Nicaragua’s Ministerio Sobre Las Alas Del Aguila on Thursday. The tournament is broken into two brackets — 10 American teams on one side, and 10 international teams on the other, with the two champions meeting in the title game on Sunday.

With a file from Steve Ewen