Ellis, Dodgers officials set for Australian goodwill tour

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Catcher A.J. Ellis and several Dodgers officials will head to Australia Friday for a goodwill tour in advance of the club's 2014 season-opening series against the D-backs in Sydney.

Ellis will be joined by executive vice president Lon Rosen, publicity director Joe Jareck and equipment manager Mitch Poole on the trip, which will include a visit to the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, which will be transformed into a baseball stadium for the games on March 22-23.

Other planned stops include the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Taronga Park Zoo and a baseball skills clinic at Manly Beach.

The Dodgers will play a Spring Training game in Arizona on Sunday, March 16, then fly 17 hours and arrive in Sydney on the following Tuesday morning. The team will be off Wednesday and have a workout Thursday before playing an exhibition game against a local Australian team on Friday.

The Dodgers will then be the visiting team against Arizona for the first two regular-season games on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

The Dodgers will fly back to California after the Sunday game, arriving the same day. They will be off Monday, work out Tuesday and Wednesday, play three Freeway Series exhibition games against the Angels on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then have an off-day Sunday before resuming the regular season on Monday.