Joe Savery, a former Rice University college baseball standout with family ties to Northeast Mississippi, has been called up to pitch for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Here's a story from the team's web site.

He started for the Iron Pigs -- love that nickname -- on Monday night in Rochester, N.Y., and got the victory, pitching six innings of four-hit baseball, giving up just one earned run while walking five. He didn't have any strikeouts.

It's been a pretty quick ride up the ladder for Savery, a first-round pick (19th overall) by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007. He was 12-4 with a 4.41 ERA at Double-A Reading this season.

Loyal Journal readers know we have often checked in on Savery -- who has family in Tupelo and Oxford -- during his college days and also since getting drafted by the Phillies.