First, Borges was awarded the North Carolina American Legion Scholarship worth $500. Then, prior to last week's Game 6 of the American Legion World Series in Shelby, Borges was named the recipient of the American Legion Baseball Southeast Region Scholarship worth $2,500.
A recent graduate of North Lincoln High School, Borges was named to the American Legion Baseball All-Academic team for 2018, which is made up of 8 players from each different region.
For players to be eligible for the scholarships, they must first be nominated by their post-affiliated team manager or head coach to the department baseball committee. The baseball committee then reviews the submitted applications and selects a state winner. The ALWS committee then reviews those winners and selects the regional winners.
Borges, a two-year starting outfielder for coach Bruce Bolick at Denver Post 455, plans to play his college baseball at Belmont Abbey College. He was the leadoff hitter for coach Jon Carpenter's North Lincoln team that reached the 2A West finals, and batted .368 for Bolick's Lincoln County Cardinals this past season.
Previous academic award winners for Post 455 include Bradley Hallman from SouthLake Christian Academy in 2014 and Nathaniel Scoggins from Lincoln Charter School in 2015. Hallman was a 4-year pitcher at Gardner-Webb university, and Scoggins is an Engineering honor student at The Citadel.