This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PHILADELPHIA -- Hours before the pomp and circumstance of the Phillies' highly anticipated home opener on Friday afternoon, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos were in the batting cages beneath Citizens Bank Park -- but neither was working on his own swing.

Instead, they were giving impromptu hitting lessons to the children of fallen Temple University police officer Christopher Fitzgerald, who was killed in the line of duty on Feb. 18.

Fitzgerald's four children, along with his wife, Marissa, and parents, Joel and Pauline, were invited to Friday's home opener through Schwarber's Neighborhood Heroes program. They were on the field to watch batting practice, when Schwarber and Castellanos led the family down the steps of the home dugout and into the stadium tunnel.

"The time that Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber spent with my grandkids -- taking them to the team, working with Nick's son, Liam -- the Phillies didn't have to do all that," said Joel, who spent 17 years with the Philadelphia Police Department. "But they get it."

Castellanos eventually had to go prepare for the game, but it likely wasn’t the end of his interaction with the Fitzgerald family. Before leaving, he gave them his wife’s contact information and told him to reach out any time they come to a game in the future.

“It helps them out, but honestly, it helps my family out a lot, too,” said Castellanos, who added that he hopes 9-year-old Liam has a chance to hang out with his new friends down the road. “It's no secret that I'm a very blessed individual -- I have two very healthy boys. So, any time we can give back and make other people happy or take away whatever weight or pain they might be feeling at the moment, we're very happy to do so.”

All of Fitzgerald's family members were also recognized on the field in the middle of the third inning. They received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd.

"It was awe-inspiring, it was moving," Joel said. "It just brought us to tears."

Christopher was an avid fan of all Philadelphia sports, but especially the Phillies. He even had an old school Phillies logo tattooed on his bicep.

"He would have loved all this," Pauline said. "There's a certain type of happiness today, but also a certain type of sadness, because he's not here to enjoy it with us."

And he was supposed to be there to watch the Phillies raise the 2022 NL pennant.

"He said he was going to bring me to a Phillies game this year -- this game," Marisa said. "So in a way, it feels like he did."

It was undoubtedly an emotional day for the Fitzgerald family, from seeing their children (and grandchildren) meet some of their icons to seeing old pictures of their father, son and husband on the videoboard during a standing ovation to Schwarber giving the family a heartfelt handwritten note.

"Our family will never be able to repay John Middleton and the Buck family for what they've done for us today," Joel said. "Because they brought some smiles to our faces in the darkest time of our lives."