When the Seton Hall freshman pitcher spotted his name scrawled ominously on his baseball locker room’s white board, he knew something terrible was about to happen.
A makeshift wrestling ring had been erected by the 17-year-old’s teammates — who were about to force him to undergo a sick hazing ritual in which he had to do battle with a much larger and older player.
As his teammates watched, the teen was choked, dragged and body slammed onto his back — then left “spitting blood” in a beating so brutal it dashed his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, he claimed to The Post in an exclusive interview.
“What’s going on in the locker room is some sick, sick stuff,” said the former student, whose identity is being withheld by The Post.
“I was spitting blood everywhere,” said the star pitcher, who was recruited by the school for his 91-mile-per-hour throw. “It was a feeling that I’m really never gonna forget.”
The teen was then subjected to a twisted team masturbation ritual and other humiliating hazing incidents while his coach looked the other way, according to a shocking new federal lawsuit.
The bombshell suit alleges the renowned Division I baseball program — which rules the NCAA and churns out all-stars like the Mets’ Mo Vaughn and the Astro’s Craig Biggio — is a hotbed of sicko sex hazing, complete with nude and violent wrestling, according to the lawsuit, filed in Long Island federal court on Wednesday.
The coach and the school “failed to investigate or discipline the perpetrators, allowing the toxic culture to persist,” claims the lawsuit.
Growing up on Long Island, the young pitcher said baseball had been a part of his life since he was a child.
By the time college rolled around, he had nearly 10 offers from Division I schools all over the country.
Seton Hall, famous as a feeder school for the major leagues, gave him the best offer, with a substantial scholarship.
“That’s every kid’s dream,” he said of playing in the big leagues. “We thought it was going to be a good fit, but obviously didn’t end up that way.”
Hours after he first arrived to the New Jersey campus in August 2024, he went to his first team meeting where the other players were “going on and on” about a tradition where the freshman players shave their heads, he told The Post.
The ominous comments created “a sense of intimidation,” according to the lawsuit.
Days later, a sophomore on the team inside the locker room said that the player had to show everyone his genitals, the lawsuit states.
“We’ve got to see what you’ve got down there,” the older player told the then-17-year-old, his suit alleges.
“The locker room erupted in laughter,” the suit says, as he complied.
“Whoa… you’ve got some balls down there!” said one of the players, according to the suit, leaving him feeling “humiliated and distressed.”
The hazing got even worse when he was forced to wrestle the much older player right after Labor Day weekend 2024, according to the lawsuit.
“I basically got beat up,” he recounted. “I got body slammed, put in a chokehold.”
The beat down was so bad that he walked back to his dorm doubled-over, spitting blood all over the sidewalk, and still bears scars from the attack on his knees, he told The Post.
His furious father called head coach Rob Sheppard, who then called him “and basically told me that none of this goes on here, that he would take care of this and that none of this ever happens at Seton Hall and it’s not tolerated,” he said.
In reality, the coach and school “failed to investigate the complaint, discipline perpetrators, or implement corrective measures,” the lawsuit claims, “allowing the hazing to continue unabated.”
A sicko code-worded ritual came next: a masturbation exhibition called “Lotus,” where a player would lie on the locker room floor and “manipulate his genitals” while others watched and cheered, the suit claims.
“One day in the locker room, I came in and there got everyone ready to do this ‘Lotus’ to this kid, and they had him lay down butt naked in the middle of the locker room and touch himself,” he said.
“Seeing that was just awful,” he said. “That’s what you’re dealing with — something new like that, everyday.”
Luckily he said he was able to deflect demands to participate, and was called a “p–sy,” the suit says.
The player was told about future rituals to anticipate, including an event dubbed “Kangs,” a nude wrestling match, according to the lawsuit.
That’s when he marched into coach Sheppard’s office to “tell him I was done,” he said.
“Sheppard expressed disappointment,” according to his suit, “but took no meaningful action to address the issues.”
In the suit, Sheppard is accused of ignoring complaints of violent and sexually disturbing hazing. He did not immediately return a request for comment from The Post.
“This disparate treatment is based on outdated gender stereotypes that dismiss male hazing as ‘boys being boys’ or acceptable masculine rites of passage,” the suit states.
After the player met with the coach — who promised him confidentiality — he was called a “rat” and other players started saying “nasty” things about him in the groupchat, he said.
He left Seton Hall shortly after, barely two months into the school year. Because of the rules of the college transfer portal he wasn’t able to go to another Division I school, and was forced to head to a Division III program, where he was at least able to play this year, he said.
“It was a dark time for me — I was sad, depressed,” he said. “I was down in the dumps every day.”
Leaving the Division I school “cost him a season of eligibility and forced him to transfer to a Division III school, diminishing his visibility and professional baseball prospects,” his suit explains.
“To spend my whole life trying to get to that point, and I finally got there, and then had this all happen, and it’s just derailed my whole career,” the player, now 18-years-old, said.
“There’s gotta be some accountability taken by the coach,” the player said. “He’s gotta lay his foot down and take control of that whole situation and try to make things a lot better.”
The player’s attorney, Mark Shirian, said the school’s failure to stop the hazing and abuse “shattered lives.”
“Seton Hall University’s baseball program turned a blind eye to a culture of vicious hazing, betraying the trust of young athletes and perpetuating a cycle of abuse under the guise of tradition,” he said.
“This deliberate indifference not only shattered lives but exposed a shameful failure to protect those they promised to uplift.”
“Seton Hall University has no comment on this litigation,” a rep for the school said Wednesday.
-Additional reporting by Natalie O’Neill
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