CLINTON - Cedar Rapids Kernels first baseman Dalton Hicks has loved hitting a baseball since he was a little kid.

"I've been playing since I was 4," he said Sunday. "I remember my mom telling me I couldn't play until I was 4, and then when I was almost 4 she said, 'Well, you have to be 4 1/2.'"

He remembers being sorely disappointed.

"On my 4th birthday, as soon as I woke up, I asked my father, 'When will I be 4 1/2?' They finally let me play."

Even then, he loved to hit.

"It's the best thing to do in sports," he said.

That little 4-year-old boy grew up to be a big man at 6-foot-5 and 252 pounds, making him the biggest player for the Kernels. And he sure can hit.

Hicks belted a three-run homer Sunday that probably left a dent in the metal shed that sits beyond the right-field wall at Ashford University Field in Clinton as the Kernels beat the LumberKings, 7-6, in the second game of a Midwest League doubleheader.

Clinton won the first game, 3-2.

Hicks, a 23-year-old first baseman, has gotten off to a fast start with the Kernels (7-2) through nine games. He's hitting .387 with seven doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs and could be a threat to challenge for the Triple Crown this year.

He leads the Midwest League in doubles, ranks second in total bases, is tied for third in home runs, is tied for fourth in RBIs and ranks 10th in hitting. He leads the league with a 1.279 OPS, which combines a player's on-base percentage with his slugging percentage.

Hicks, a left-handed hitter, bats in the cleanup spot for the Kernels, who are tied with Quad Cities for the top winning percentage in the league.

Hicks hit a tape-measure home run to right field at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Opening Night, but he's also shown he can hit the ball to the opposite field when pitchers try to hit the outside corner and avoid his immense power.

"He has a mature approach," said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. "He's not a one-trick pony. He doesn't try to hook everything."

With his size and potent left-handed swing, Hicks evokes possible comparisons to Major League sluggers like Jim Thome and Adam Dunn.

"I'll leave that up to you," he said. "I'm just trying to hit the ball."

Mauer isn't sure if he'd compare Hicks to Thome and Dunn.

"I think those guys probably swing and miss more than he does," said Mauer. "He probably doesn't have the same pop as those guys. I'm not saying he's not close, but I would say he hits for a little more average."

Mauer thinks he has a better comparison, within the Minnesota organization.

"Don't blast me," the skipper said, "but I'd probably say Justin Morneau. He's a lot closer."

Morneau, 6-4, 220, has been a four-time all-star first baseman with the Twins and was the Most Valuable Player in the American League in 2006. Hicks has a long way to go to catch Morneau, but he did slug a walk-off grand slam to give Elizabethton the Appalachian League title last season.

Hicks, who is from Florida, gave Cedar Rapids a 4-0 lead in the second game Sunday with his three-run homer in the third inning. The Kernels stretched the margin to 7-0 in the fifth inning when they bunched four hits together, including a double to left by Hicks.

It had the makings of a laugher, but the Kernels committed four infield errors in the fifth and sixth innings and let the LumberKings pull within 7-6. Tyler Jones shut the door in the bottom of the seventh to save the victory.

Cedar Rapids jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener, but the Kernels got too aggressive on the basebaths and had two runners thrown out to thwart a bigger frame. That came back to haunt them, because they did not score again.

Tyler Duffey, who pitched seven perfect innings in his first outing this season for the Kernels, did not allow a hit in the first three innings Sunday and appeared to be cruising again. That changed in the fourth inning, when Guillermo Pimentel hit a two-run homer to tie the game, 2-2, as the LumberKings collected three straight hits.

Clinton broke the 2-2 tie with three straight two-out hits in the sixth inning.

Cedar Rapids is scheduled to open a four-game series against Wisconsin at Veterans Memorial Stadium Monday night at 6:35 p.m. They'll play a doubleheader Tuesday at 5 p.m. and a single game Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.

The doubleheader Tuesday will make up one of the games that was postponed in Wisconsin this past Tuesday and Wednesday. The other game that was postponed in Wisconsin will not be rescheduled, which means the Kernels will play only 69 games during the first half of the Midwest League campaign instead of 70. Thirty-six of the 69 games are scheduled for Cedar Rapids, one more than normal.

Midwest League teams are not allowed to play more than three doubleheaders during a seven-game stretch and the Kernels just finished playing back-to-back doubleheaders in Clinton. Cedar Rapids and Wisconsin do not meet again during the first half of the season after this upcoming series.

GAME 1

KERNELS (2): Buxton, cf, 2 0 1 0, C.Pimentel, 2b, 3 1 1 0, Polanco, ss, 3 1 1 1, Hicks, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Walker, rf, 3 0 2 0, Harrison, 3b, 3 0 1 0, Jimenez, dh, 3 0 1 0, Rodriguez, c, 3 0 0 0, Williams, lf, 2 0 0 0, Duffey, p, 0 0 0 0, Tomshaw, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 25 2 8 2.

CLINTON (3): Marte, ss, 3 0 1 0, Pizzano, dh, 3 1 1 0, G.Pimentel, lf/cf, 3 1 1 2, Kivlehan, 3b, 2 0 1 0, Henry, cf, 1 0 0 0, Hebert, lf, 2 1 1 0, Guerrero, rf, 3 0 1 0, Ard, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Marlette, c, 2 0 0 0, Werman, 2b, 2 0 0 0, Unsworth, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 24 3 7 3.

Kernels      200 000 0 - 2 8 0
Clinton      000 201 x - 3 7 1

Duffey, Tomshaw (6) and Rodriguez. Unsworth and Marlette. W - Unsworth (1-0). L - Duffey (1-1). 2B - Polanco (2), Hicks (6), Walker (2). HR - G.Pimentel (3). E - Marte (3). T - 1:41.

GAME 2

KERNELS (7): Buxton, cf, 4 2 2 0, C.Pimentel, dh, 3 1 1 0, Polanco, 2b, 4 2 2 2, Hicks, 1b, 4 2 2 3, Walker, rf, 3 0 1 1, Harrison, 3b, 2 0 1 1, Goodrum, ss, 3 0 0 0, Grimes, c, 2 0 0 0, Williams, lf, 3 0 0 0, Rogers, p, 0 0 0 0, Soliman, p, 0 0 0 0, Atherton, p, 0 0 0 0, T.Jones, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 7 9 7.

CLINTON (6): Marte, ss, 4 1 1 0, Pizzano, lf, 4 2 2 1, G.Pimentel, cf, 3 1 2 1, Kivlehan, dh, 2 0 0 1, Ard, 1b, 4 1 0 0, Guerrero, rf, 4 0 1 0, Lara, 3b, 3 0 1 1, Tanabe, c, 4 0 0 0, Lopes, 2b, 2 1 0 0, Garcia, p, 0 0 0 0, Holman, p, 0 0 0 0, Wood, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 30 6 7 4.

Kernels     004 030 0 - 7 9 4
Clinton     000 042 0 - 6 7 1

Rogers, Soliman (3), Atherton (5), T.Jones (6) and Grimes. Garcia, Holman (3), Wood 6) and Tanabe. W - Atherton (1-0). L - Garcia (1-1). S - T.Jones. 2B - Harrison (4), Hicks (7), G.Pimentel (1). HR - Hicks (2). SB - Buxton (3). E - Harrison 2 (4), J.Polanco (2), Goodrum (4), Garcia (1). T - 2:12. A - 2,007 (paid).