When the Seton Corridor freshman pitcher noticed his identify scrawled ominously on his baseball locker room’s white board, he knew one thing horrible was about to occur.
A makeshift wrestling ring had been erected by the 17-year-old’s teammates — who have been about to drive him to bear a sick hazing ritual wherein he needed to do battle with a a lot bigger and older participant.
As his teammates watched, the teenager was choked, dragged and physique slammed onto his again — then left “spitting blood” in a beating so brutal it dashed his dream of changing into knowledgeable baseball participant, he claimed to The Publish in an unique interview.
“What’s happening within the locker room is a few sick, sick stuff,” stated the previous scholar, whose id is being withheld by The Publish.
“I used to be spitting blood in every single place,” stated the star pitcher, who was recruited by the varsity for his 91-mile-per-hour throw. “It was a sense that I’m actually by no means gonna neglect.”
The teenager was then subjected to a twisted staff masturbation ritual and different humiliating hazing incidents whereas his coach regarded the opposite approach, in accordance with a stunning new federal lawsuit.
The bombshell go well with alleges the famend Division I baseball program — which guidelines the NCAA and churns out all-stars just like the Mets’ Mo Vaughn and the Astro’s Craig Biggio — is a hotbed of sicko intercourse hazing, full with nude and violent wrestling, in accordance with the lawsuit, filed in Lengthy Island federal courtroom on Wednesday.
The coach and the varsity “failed to analyze or self-discipline the perpetrators, permitting the poisonous tradition to persist,” claims the lawsuit.
Rising up on Lengthy Island, the younger pitcher stated baseball had been part of his life since he was a toddler.
By the point school rolled round, he had almost 10 provides from Division I colleges everywhere in the nation.
Seton Corridor, well-known as a feeder faculty for the foremost leagues, gave him the very best provide, with a considerable scholarship.
“That’s each child’s dream,” he stated of taking part in within the large leagues. “We thought it was going to be match, however clearly didn’t find yourself that approach.”
Hours after he first arrived to the New Jersey campus in August 2024, he went to his first staff assembly the place the opposite gamers have been “happening and on” a couple of custom the place the freshman gamers shave their heads, he instructed The Publish.
The ominous feedback created “a way of intimidation,” in accordance with the lawsuit.
Days later, a sophomore on the staff contained in the locker room stated that the participant needed to present everybody his genitals, the lawsuit states.
“We’ve received to see what you’ve received down there,” the older participant instructed the then-17-year-old, his go well with alleges.
“The locker room erupted in laughter,” the go well with says, as he complied.
“Whoa… you’ve received some balls down there!” stated one of many gamers, in accordance with the go well with, leaving him feeling “humiliated and distressed.”
The hazing received even worse when he was pressured to wrestle the a lot older participant proper after Labor Day weekend 2024, in accordance with the lawsuit.
“I principally received beat up,” he recounted. “I received physique slammed, put in a chokehold.”
The beat down was so dangerous that he walked again to his dorm doubled-over, spitting blood everywhere in the sidewalk, and nonetheless bears scars from the assault on his knees, he instructed The Publish.
His livid father known as head coach Rob Sheppard, who then known as him “and principally instructed me that none of this goes on right here, that he would maintain this and that none of this ever occurs at Seton Corridor and it’s not tolerated,” he stated.
In actuality, the coach and faculty “failed to analyze the grievance, self-discipline perpetrators, or implement corrective measures,” the lawsuit claims, “permitting the hazing to proceed unabated.”
A sicko code-worded ritual got here subsequent: a masturbation exhibition known as “Lotus,” the place a participant would lie on the locker room flooring and “manipulate his genitals” whereas others watched and cheered, the go well with claims.
“In the future within the locker room, I got here in and there received everybody prepared to do that ‘Lotus’ to this child, and so they had him lay down butt bare in the course of the locker room and contact himself,” he stated.
“Seeing that was simply terrible,” he stated. “That’s what you’re coping with — one thing new like that, on a regular basis.”
Fortunately he stated he was capable of deflect calls for to take part, and was known as a “p–sy,” the go well with says.
The participant was instructed about future rituals to anticipate, together with an occasion dubbed “Kangs,” a nude wrestling match, in accordance with the lawsuit.
That’s when he marched into coach Sheppard’s workplace to “inform him I used to be completed,” he stated.
“Sheppard expressed disappointment,” in accordance with his go well with, “however took no significant motion to deal with the problems.”
Within the go well with, Sheppard is accused of ignoring complaints of violent and sexually disturbing hazing. He didn’t instantly return a request for remark from The Publish.
“This disparate therapy relies on outdated gender stereotypes that dismiss male hazing as ‘boys being boys’ or acceptable masculine rites of passage,” the go well with states.
After the participant met with the coach — who promised him confidentiality — he was known as a “rat” and different gamers began saying “nasty” issues about him within the groupchat, he stated.
He left Seton Corridor shortly after, barely two months into the varsity yr. Due to the foundations of the school switch portal he wasn’t capable of go to a different Division I faculty, and was pressured to go to a Division III program, the place he was a minimum of capable of play this yr, he stated.
“It was a darkish time for me — I used to be unhappy, depressed,” he stated. “I used to be down within the dumps daily.”
Leaving the Division I faculty “value him a season of eligibility and compelled him to switch to a Division III faculty, diminishing his visibility {and professional} baseball prospects,” his go well with explains.
“To spend my complete life making an attempt to get to that time, and I lastly received there, after which had this all occur, and it’s simply derailed my complete profession,” the participant, now 18-years-old, stated.
“There’s gotta be some accountability taken by the coach,” the participant stated. “He’s gotta lay his foot down and take management of that complete scenario and attempt to make issues so much higher.”
The participant’s lawyer, Mark Shirian, stated the varsity’s failure to cease the hazing and abuse “shattered lives.”
“Seton Corridor College’s baseball program turned a blind eye to a tradition of vicious hazing, betraying the belief of younger athletes and perpetuating a cycle of abuse beneath the guise of custom,” he stated.
“This deliberate indifference not solely shattered lives however uncovered a shameful failure to guard these they promised to uplift.”
“Seton Corridor College has no touch upon this litigation,” a rep for the varsity stated Wednesday.
-Further reporting by Natalie O’Neill
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