Members of the USC 4x400-meter relay team, whose dramatic come-from-behind victory last weekend gave the Trojans the NCAA women's track and field championship, will throw the ceremonial first pitch before Wednesday's Los Angeles Dodgers-Texas Rangers game at Dodger Stadium.
USC entered the final leg of Saturday's race in third place, but there was a bobble on the exchange between Deanna Hill and Kendall Ellis and the Trojans found themselves nearly two seconds behind Purdue. Ellis made an early pass on the inside and didn't really close the gap until the stretch run, finally edging Jahneya Mitchell of Purdue in the final meter for a victory by .07 of a second.
The Trojans' time of three minutes, 27.06 seconds was the fourth-fastest in school history.
USC was in fourth after the first two legs, run by Kyra Constantine and Anna Cockrell.
The 10 points the Trojans received for the victory in the relay gave them 53 for the meet, one more than runner-up Georgia.
Another first pitch will be thrown by Pro Football Hall of Fame member Mike Haynes to promote Men's Health Month and prostate cancer awareness. Haynes is an alumnus of John Marshall High School in Los Feliz and played for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1983-89.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer Second Class Joshua Rodriguez of Los Angeles will be honored as the Military Hero of the Game. Rodriguez joined the Navy in 2011 and has served two nine-month deployments. He is stationed at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific in San Diego, supporting the Naval Tactical Command Support System fleet.
