PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — It wasn’t until after Indiana State’s loss to the Miami Hurricanes on Wednesday night that Sycamores head coach Tracy Archuleta saw the viral posts all over social media.
Cameras had picked up Mets starter Sean Manaea — who played college ball at Indiana State from 2011 to 2013 — sitting in the Sycamores bullpen in the eighth inning.
“I had no idea!” Archuleta told NJ.com over the phone on Saturday. “Our guys loved it. For someone with his status to take the time to drive two-plus hours to go watch his alma mater play, it means so much to us.”
Manaea was impossible to miss. Surrounded by Indiana State pitchers in uniform, the Mets’ lefty was perched in the middle of the bullpen bench, wearing street clothes.
Archuleta wasn’t even aware that Manaea was coming to the game that night in Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. He and his staff had a chance to meet the left-hander before first pitch when he popped up in the crowd, but then the focus shifted to their attempt to upset No. 23 Miami.
“The game started and I saw he was sitting in the stands, eating his popcorn,” Archuleta said. “I told him before the game that he’s welcome to do whatever he wants. No big deal. Then as the game went on, I really didn’t know where he was at or what was going on.”
Manaea grinned when NJ.com showed him the clip that’s been circulating in recent days on social media of him in the bullpen. That was Manaea’s first opportunity to be around his old team during the baseball season since his last year at Indiana State in 2013. It worked out that part of the Sycamores’ early-season road trip included that quick stop in Miami, just a straight shot down I-95 from Mets camp in Port St. Lucie for Manaea.
“I was like, I’ll probably regret this if I don’t do it,” Manaea said. “Just wanted to go see them and support them. Chopped it up. It was a really cool experience.”
Manaea spoke to the whole team postgame. He took questions from some of the pitchers while he was in the bullpen. Other than paying it forward and giving those college kids rare, unfiltered access to a veteran big leaguer, Manaea got a kick out of a sudden surge of nostalgia.
“Don’t think anybody here has been to Terre Haute, Indiana,” Manaea said looking around the Mets’ clubhouse. “It was cool to talk about Terre Haute, the uniqueness of it, the campus. I was asking what dorms the guys live in. Getting to relive some of that stuff was just cool.”
Asked if Manaea has a future as a bullpen coach, Archuleta chuckled, pointing out jokingly that the Sycamores were tied with Miami before he got out to the ‘pen. When he was there, they gave up four runs. All kidding aside, Manaea’s effort to visit really resonated. It’s a testament to the experience he had at Indiana State and what that program means to him.
“It wasn’t very long ago that he was at Indiana State doing the same thing that we were,” Archuleta said. “Now, he’s a big leaguer. To be able to show us the appreciation of what Indiana State was to him was awesome. Our guys were like little kids with him meeting a big leaguer for the first time. They didn’t want to be too happy after we got beat, but you could hear the chatter.”
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