South Carolina coach Chad Holbrook announced after the Ball State game Tuesday that starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery will be shut down for at least two weeks with a lower distal humerus stress reaction in his throwing arm.

The sophomore left-hander has been the Friday starter for the first three weekends. He is 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA. He has pitched 19 innings and allowed two runs on 13 hits with 19 strikeouts and seven walks.

Montgomery will miss his scheduled starts this weekend against Rider and next week in the SEC opener at Missouri. Holbrook said he will be re-evaluated in two weeks. The coaching staff is optimistic he can return for the Arkansas series on March 22 but a more likely scenario would be the third SEC series against Texas A&M on March 29.

“Jordan Montgomery will be shut down for two weeks or so,” Holbrook said. “He’s been having some discomfort the last two or three weeks in his pitching arm.”

Colby Holmes and Nolan Belcher will remain in the weekend rotation but Holbrook said they will look at a number of guys to fill the third spot.