Before Brian McKenzie, senior, suited up in black and gold for the Trojans’ baseball team, his love for baseball had been growing for a long time.

“I started playing baseball in the second grade,” McKenzie said. “I started playing because it was my dad’s favorite sport. He started getting me into it and started letting me play really early and I’ve just loved it ever since.”

Brian loves baseball for a great amount of reasons.

“It’s not as boring as everyone thinks it is. A lot of complicated things go into it and it’s very strategical. It’s really complex. It can be really exciting, I just love to play,” McKenzie said.

Brian’s love for baseball drives him to be the best player possible.

“I just want to be known as an all-around player. Someone who isn’t just good at one thing, I try to do my best to be a good defender, be good at the plate, a good base runner and fielder and just be a good overall player,” McKenzie said.

While Brian drives himself to be an all-around player, a lot of it couldn’t have happened without being a Trojan.

“[Playing for Topeka High has] been a lot of fun, a lot of learning. We weren’t very good at all my freshman year. We’ve grown a lot and I’ve grown a lot as a player since starting varsity my freshman year,” McKenzie said. “[My favorite memory was from ] my sophomore year. We beat Hayden and that was the year Hayden won the 4A State Championship.”

McKenzie is having a solid season for Topeka High so far this year, batting 0.375 with 12 RBIs and nine stolen bases.