The Twins' No. 2 prospect hit his first homer of the year and finished with four RBIs as Double-A New Britain beat Harrisburg, 6-3, in the Eastern League

With the game in the third inning, 1-1, Hicks took Senators starter Mike Ballard deep for a three-run blast. The 22-year-old center fielder added an RBI single in the fifth and later scored.

"It was a 3-2 fastball on the outside, the guy had been throwing me a lot of offspeed inside and I had been fighting it off," Hicks said. "He threw one middle-out and I hit it pretty well."

A first-round pick in 2008, Hicks entered Monday's contest 1-for-12 with an RBI for the Rock Cats. The California native felt good about how he was swinging the bat and that the results would catch up.

"I didn't really change my approach, I've been hitting balls solid but today they actually dropped," Hicks said. "I was trying to look for pitches to drive and I got the pitches."

Hicks spent the 2011 season in the Class A Advanced Florida State League, where he batted .249 with 78 walks and 79 runs scored for the Fort Myers Miracle. The average was the lowest of his four-year career, and he learned some lessons from that.

"Stop trying to hit homers," Hicks said. "Sometimes I get in that happy mode where I get pitches right down the middle and I try to do too much with it and get myself out. Just letting it happen, not trying to create lift and just hit the ball solid. Playing out there in the Florida State League, there's not that many hitters' parks there and you really have to get it."

Alex Wimmers, the club's No. 15 prospect, allowed two runs on six hits while fanning three over 4 2/3 innings. Delois Guerra earned the win in relief, allowing two hits over 2 2/3 scoreless innings.