College baseball as a freshman? It’s usually an up-and-in pitch for incoming schoolboys and Quin Cotton got one in 2017 at Grand Canyon University.

He didn’t fall off the face of the planet, although 73 at-bats and a .274 average weren’t in the hopes of the former Regis Jesuit star. And he had no excuses.

 “I had the opportunity to be playing left field and (designated hitter),” Cotton said, “but the game sped up on me too much and I didn’t make the most of my opportunity.”

He suddenly rediscovered his baseball game in -- of all places – Alaska ... in summer, of course. It wasn’t the Final Frontier in all aspects. In fact, Cotton, who played for the Mat-Su Miners and was named Alaska Baseball League Player of the Year in 2017.

“It’s one of the coolest experiences I’ve had,” he said. “In the summer, the sun’s out for 18, 19 hours a day. It’s a little different coming home from the game.”

It got better – Cotton, who switched to right field, was the WAC’s 2018 player of the year. He’ll also go into his junior baseball season with a chance to graduate at the end of it with a major in finance and economics, and a minor in sports management.

“It didn’t start out that way, but my advisor told me about it and I thought I might as well,” Cotton said of his three-year plan instead of four. He had attained extra credits from Regis and has taken summer classes at GCU in addition to fully understanding the one-helps-the-other thing in academics-athletics.

“I was a little busier than I wanted to be playing summer ball all over the place and an extra class isn’t the easiest thing,” he said, “but it took my mind off baseball a little bit.”

It certainly didn’t hurt his numbers beyond his 3.5 grade-point average. In 2018, Cotton batted .390 that put him 14^th nationally and was the best at GCU since 2012. His 94 hits were 11^th nationally and the most at GCU since 1992. He also scored 36 runs, tops for the Antelopes since 2003.

A multiple All-American as a prep Raider, he was a 38^th-round draft choice of the Colorado Rockies. The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder has batted first-to-fourth for the Antelopes and calls power “the next part of my game I have to develop.”

He hit five home runs and had 43 runs batted in a year ago.

And Cotton may or may not be around for a fourth season. He could start work on a masters’ degree while playing his senior season, although his college career, too, may be done early.

“It depends,” he said. “It would be hard to leave Grand Canyon, but at the same time playing professional baseball is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”

He’ll turn 21 in a couple of months and is the only child of former sports writers, father Anthony at Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post, and mother Theresa Smith at the Orange County Register.

While his commitment to GCU as a prep senior was somewhat surprising, Cotton offers no apologies or regrets. Just happiness.

“All things considered,” Cotton said, “it was the best choice for me. The coaching staff, the people they have here, the weather is great, of course, and instead of being indoors and not having to deal with that (as in Colorado) is great. It’s the best opportunity for me to develop as a player and as a person.

“It’s so rewarding, more than I can ask for … it’s definitely the best decision I ever made.”