Oral Roberts University has had a dream season in 2023.

They have an overall record of 51-12.

They went 23-1 in conference play en route to a Summit League title.

They had a 21-game win streak, and they recently survived some wild regional play to advance to their first College World Series since 1978. They play against TCU on Friday.

So, how are they doing it? What is the key ingredient that has helped keep this mid-major team playing deep into the spring alongside some of the year-in, year-out Omaha mainstays?

The answer is actually pretty simple.

"It's kind of a form of a gummy," ORU first-base coach Jimmy Turk told me over the phone. "Haribo makes them. They're called Twin Snakes."

Yes, for every base hit an Oral Roberts player gets, he receives a Twin Snake -- which is in the same family as the maybe more well known Gummy Worm. (ORU players have tried both and prefer Snakes over Worms.)

The Golden Eagles have obviously responded well to the treats. They've racked up 721 hits and have a team batting average over .300. One player who's responded especially well? Jonah Cox. The center fielder is currently riding a 47-game hit streak -- the third longest in Division I baseball history.

That's a lot of gummies.

Although the gummy handoff has picked up a lot of steam on social media this year with ORU being on the national stage, the tradition actually started back in 2021.

On a long bus ride from Minneapolis to Fargo, now senior captain Jake McMurray led the team in a singalong to the popular TikTok "Sea Shanty" song. Eight hours later, while still on the bus, "everybody on the team wanted to be a pirate." What do pirates want? Treasure, of course. So, Turk took it upon himself to provide that treasure after the ORU Pirates conquered an opposing pitcher and set sail for first base.

The pirate theme has changed over the years to mostly clubhouse disco-dance parties, but the gummies have remained. That's thanks to McMurray and Turk and the fact that, well, who doesn't like being rewarded with some candy after getting a hit?

But what about extra-base hits?

If a guy hits a double and ORU is in the first-base dugout, Turk will hand a gummy off to them when they come to first to give him their batting gloves or shin guard. If it's a triple or a home run, he just tries to give it to them in the dugout before they go back out to play defense. If he doesn't get that chance, the first-base coach believes bad things can happen.

"Yeah, I'm a little superstitious too," Turk told me. "If I forget to give a guy a Twin Snake, and he goes out in the field and we give up two runs, I'm like, 'Damn, that's on me.' It's kind of like, let's pay this back so all is right in the world."

Haribo, the company that makes the Snakes, has noticed the Golden Eagles using their treat during their magical run. They sent over a nice little care package this week.

And the Snake-eating habit has even spread to their fans in Tulsa. Kids are using the gummy snack in their youth league games and Turk says it's attracted interest and outreach from people who wouldn't normally be following the baseball team. They think it's fun and want to learn the backstory.

And that fun element during a long college season has helped build a chemistry among the underdogs from Oklahoma. It's a silly little addition that Turk thinks -- along with the team's obvious talent -- can take them deep into World Series play.

"This is a really close group and guys really like it," Turk said. "Baseball is really hard, these guys work really hard. We just try and do something to loosen them up and have fun. We want to remind them that baseball's a kids' game."